Stepping out from a Shadow
by 92fireDemon
Summary: With the world tournament coming up, Cynthia learns of a mysterious trainer sparking her curiosity. Mainly game-verse, elements form the anime and manga will make it in. I moved the rating up to M, to be on the safe side. The first few chapters are definitely the weakest so please do bear with it and read on. Also first fanfic yeah!
1. Awe

**Disclaimer: I down own Pokemon, I wish i did :(**

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Cynthia was a little in awe. It was the first time she had visited Indigo Plateau and she had been taken aback by its majesty. The stadiums were larger here and more numerous than any other region. And then there was the champion's stadium. She had gone there in between meetings to get a feel for it, imagining what it would have been like if full. She could easily see why the Indigo Plateau had the won the right to host the resurrected Pokémon World Tournament next year.

But that was not what she was in awe of. She had left the press conference early, as she was not as fond of answering questions as the other three champions, and found herself staring at the gargantuan mountain that the plateau was in the shadow of. Mt Sliver.

Though Mt Coronet was supposedly the tallest mountain in all the regions, there was no doubt as to which was the largest. Mt Silver, right on the division between Kanto and Johto, was huge, its width could easily be the same as a medium size city and some areas of the mountain seemed as though they had its own weather climate. She had never seen thunderstorms and blizzards rage so violently.

It was her third time she had found herself on this balcony staring at the mountain. There was something mystifying about it, in fact most of the locals knew very little about it. The residents of Silver Town (located near the foot) claimed it was the hardest mountain to climb, in part due to weather and tricky conditions and another to the horribly strong Pokémon that called the mountain their home.

In the past, many had disappeared attempting to conquer it, forcing the government to prevent people who had less than 16 badges from attempting it. Strangely though, there had not been a death in the last three years, most would turn up just outside of Silver Town suffering from mild frostbite. Their stories usually contained them falling unconscious due to the cold or having an unfortunate accident only for them to be saved by a great black winged creature. However there were even stranger stories from those who had got to the peak.

They said there was an eternal blizzard at the peak but they found a person there seemingly unfazed by the weather. This person wore nothing but an old pair of jeans, some old brown like shoes and a black hoodie that had the hood up so that only the lower part of his face was showing. They kept calling it a person as they were not sure as to if it was a man or a woman, some even questioned if it was human. The person had Pokémon and as the people who got to the top were always trainers they challenged this person to a battle.

The next part of their stories differs; as it is the case (they say) that one battle is different to another. But one thing remains constant they always lost, not even being able to knock out the first Pokémon said person sent out. Afterwards, the black creature would swoop in behind and grab them before they could react, fly down a side of the mountain and drop them of at the foot. And when they had the chance to turn around it had flown back up again.

Cynthia chuckled to herself, surely these stories about what the locals now call the Shadow of Mt Silver were just that, stories. How could there possibly be a person at the top waiting for people to arrive and challenge him/her. It was preposterous.

Just then she saw a flash of light coming from one of the storms about three quarters the way up. It didn't look like lightning nor did she hear any sound of thunder. The flashes continued, and as she strained harder to see they appeared to be coming from the same spot of cloud but their colours were different each time. What could they be?

"He's training."

She wiped around to see who had talked to her. She smiled as she saw Lance approaching her; red hair, cape and all.

"What do you mean?" she queried.

"The Shadow, he's training."

"Lance, be serious, they're just rumours aren't they?"

"Well I don't know if he lives up there or not but there is a man at the peak."

"But…"

"I battled him about one and half years ago now. Dragonite and I flew up about halfway up the mountain before the winds got too furious for him and I climbed the rest of the way. I was curious to see if the rumours were true or not, I didn't think so at first but then how were there no fatalities for the last one and a half years (at that time of course).

Anyway, I reached the top and there he was. I say he because I'm pretty sure it was a man under the hood, it looked like he had a beard. He looked at me when I approached and grabbed a Pokéball, I did likewise. I never had a battle like it. I was destroyed, his Blastoise sweeped my entire team. It didn't even look tired afterwards. And then after I had recalled Dragonite, something picked me up and covered my eyes. I felt wind rush against me at amazing speed before we slowed down and it unceremoniously dropped me a couple of feet from the foot. I turned back to see a flash of black but then nothing."

"Uhm…" Cynthia did not know what to make of it, was this a joke from Lance, if so it was a terrible one.

"I can see you don't really believe me do you?" Lance asked rhetorically with a small smirk.

"No, no I believe you" she replied a little too quickly.

"Trust me, he exists and I doubt anyone can take him on. I don't even think Red could take him."

And here was Kanto's and Johto's second mystery that intrigued her. The plateau's champion before Lance was reappointed. The youngest regional champion ever. Becoming champion less than a year after he had started out, a few months before his eleventh birthday. He then became the youngest world champion at the PWT (Pokémon world tournament) the following year and then two years later defended his crown to become the youngest double world champion. They claimed he could never be beaten and that he would become the greatest trainer ever if he was not already. But then came the seven month war.

Two men would shake their world completely. Sektor the leader, believing that he deserved to rule, convinced the former world champ (the one before Red) into helping him. They had somehow created machines that were run on Pokémon life-force and completely overwhelmed Sinnoh and the west half of Kanto before Red stopped them at their Kanto base, Creulean Cave.

Nobody really knew what had happened. The cave itself was destroyed; Sektor, the former champ and some of their followers were laid outside either knocked out or tied up. There was no sign of Red or his team. Some said he had died when the cave collapsed along with the rest of Sektor's followers others believed that he was alive somewhere. Either way no one had seen or heard anything from the boy in four years.

"Cynthia? Are you Ok?"

"Oh…. Sorry Lance I guess I kinda fazed out there."

"I guessed as much. Ah yes I forgot. As you might have guessed from my presence here, the press conference has finished."

She smiled, the press knew the PWT was going to be resurrected after these five years, it had leaked out some time ago; but now it had been made official. She looked up at Lance and saw that something was bothering him.

"What's wrong?"

"I still think that's it is wrong to hold it so soon. The whole reason it was cancelled in the first place was because of a former champ turning rouge and the current champ dying from the resulting war."

"Hmm. I reckon Red would want it to take place again."

"Maybe, anyway I am going to turn in for the night. Do you have a place to stay?"

"Yes."

"Good, I trust you don't have an early flight tomorrow?"

"Actually I've taken the next month or so off, so I might do a little sight seeing while I'm here."

"Ok then. Might I suggest you visit the Pewter city museum a most interesting place. Or perhaps the Tanoby ruins on the islands south of Kanto. Or even the radio tower in Goldenrod city."

"They all sound like great ideas to me."

"Good, well as I was saying I am of to bed. Good night Cynthia."

"Good night Lance."

And with the Lance walked of leaving Cynthia alone. She looked back upon Mt Silver trying spot any of those unusual flashes. Nothing, just the constant storms. She looked at the peak, wondering about the Shadow of Mt Silver. She smiled to herself, she knew she could get to the peak, it would not be easy but she felt confident in her abilities. She had to find out if he was real or not.

She turned back, it was late but she was not tired so she decided to do some exploring around the plateau. Before long she found herself she found herself in the hall of fame room. She looked at the pictures of past champions, noticing some familiar ones such as Lance, some that she had never heard of, some that took her completely by surprise, (she saw a picture of a young Professor Oak looking quite dashing) until she found the one she was looking for. Red. There he was, with jet black hair, tanned skin and in that iconic red jacket and hat, he looked so young in the picture but there was something wrong. He was smiling but his eyes told a different picture. They were deep brown but she could swear there was tint of crimson in them. It was like he didn't want to be there or he didn't want his picture taken, something was just not quite right.

Her mind began to wonder about herself as a trainer. She was the youngest Sinnoh champion having accomplished it last year; and was by far the youngest out of the current crop of regional champions, just having her 20th birthday. The closet in terms of ages was Steven Stone almost nine years older than her.

It had taken her almost four years to become champion, having started at the close of the war. Quite a few people had said that it had taken her too long to become champ. She was pleased that people were following her career but it also annoyed her. At first she liked the attention but soon found it got in the way especially now that she was champion. She also wondered why they had taken an interest in the first place; the reason was staring back at her. After Red's disappearance people wanted a new champ to get behind, and the people who had seen her battles thought that she fought like him. Calm and emotionless through battle, uttering commands that were all but inaudible, sweeping all challengers aside.

In fact it was true that Red had been one of the reasons that inspired her to become a trainer; the other reason she didn't want to think about, even now it still hurt her. She had learnt more about Red after she had become champion with the more time she had. He was a bit of a loner preferring to travel alone than in a group and hated the media's attention on him. He also barely spoke; some people in fact thought that he was a mute when they met him. Lastly he had no known family and had grown up in an orphanage in Pallet Town where even now they still treat him as a hero.

That is where she would go tomorrow she thought; she could talk to Professor Oak, see if he knew anything more about Red and plus he was the one who handed out the passes so that you could climb Mt Silver. She couldn't wait.

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**AN: Hope you liked it, please rate review, you know whatever **


	2. Pallet Town

**Disclaimer: I still do not own Pokemon, working on it tho, lol**

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Cynthia got up bright and early the next day, so as to lose any media that might be following her. It didn't take her long to leave the plateau and finding herself in Viridian City. The route down was uneventful; most trainers that were on the route did not recognise her and a couple had even challenged her to a battle. They were pretty easy battles, Garchomp and Spiritomb not losing a single one. But that was the good thing about Kanto, people didn't know her. Back home in Sinnoh people were too afraid to talk to her let alone challenge her.

She didn't spend long in Viridian, there wasn't much to do. It was a pleasant city surrounded by greenery but the only things that interested her, the gym and the trainer house were both closed. The trainer house was closed as it was not finished yet but she found the gym being closed to be odd. She went to the market to stock up on more supplies where she asked the vender about it.

"Oh he's quite infamous about only spending the minimum required time in the gym, most of the time of on his business ventures." How odd she thought but she didn't dwell too much on it. She was thinking about Pallet Town, about meeting Professor Oak and Red's birthplace.

It didn't take her long to get there, no trainers were on the route and she only came across some pidgys and rattatas which were no problem. Pallet town was more like a village than a proper town, there were very few houses and the only buildings of note were the laboratory and the strange shop near the beach. She walked over to it and was startled by it.

RED'S.

There was a picture of him in the front window with that pose of his, cap over his eyes, hands in pockets, a small smirk on his face, and of course that Pikachu on his right shoulder making the V symbol with one of its hands. There was a plaque on the wall, "Here the orphanage where red grew up used to stand." So, they had converted it into a shop, figures, she thought. She went in and chuckled at the sight. There was a sea of red everywhere she looked. Posters and cardboards cut outs of him as well. There were DVD's of his greatest battles, Red masks, replica clothing and even Red lunchboxes.

She was taken aback at how much there was of him. He was just a boy and hadn't been heard of in four years; she quickly left the shop and accidentally ran into another person a few feet from the exit knocking them down.

"I'm so sorry." She said as she tried to get up.

"That's quite all right." She heard a familiar voice. She looked up to see Professor Oak.

"Oh my God Professor, I didn't realise it was you!"

The Professor chuckled, "Like I said Cynthia it's quite all right, you've already apologised. You did seem to be in quite a hurry, but uhm could I ask what were you doing in that shop. You're not another fangirl are you?" He added with another chuckle.

Cynthia blushed, "No. No.. I just wanted to see the place where he was born and grew up in, I was kinda hoping to learn a bit more about him."

"That's sounds like fangirl behaviour to me."

"No, its not, I…"

"I'm just teasing you Cynthia; it is natural that champions want to learn about former champions. I am a bit surprised you didn't come to me though. That is what most people come to Kanto for. Find out from the old duff what the great Red was like."

"I was going to go to your lab next Professor, I also have a small favour to ask you."

"Oh really, well in that case then, shall we?" With that they walked the short distance to Oak's laboratory. Cynthia was enthralled by it, the machines that completely confused her and all the Pokémon that called this place their home. Some of the Professor's assistants stopped what they were doing to stare at her recognising who she was while most just continued on with there work, seeming too busy to pay them any attention. Eventually they reached the Professor's office where they both took seats.

"Would you like a drink Cynthia?"

"No thank you Professor."

"Please call me Sam or Oak."

"Err… Ok…"

"So which one first? The favour or Red?" Cynthia thought for a second before deciding.

"I hear that you give out passes to climb Mt Silver?"

"I'm guessing that you want to climb it then?" Cynthia nodded.

"Might I ask why you would want to climb it?" Again Cynthia thought, she did not want to give the Professor the real answer, he might think that she was childish.

"Well I hear that the Pokémon there are incredibly strong, I thought I might get some training in before I head back home, it'll give me a better chance at next years PWT."

"Really? So this has got nothing to do with the Shadow of Mt Silver?"

"What? Who?" She said unconvincingly.

"Everyone who comes to me to get their pass has one thing one their mind. To find him. And battle him. Most don't even get a quarter of the way up. A lot come back with severe injuries. I'm not going to say that he doesn't exist and there is no point going up there because he does exist and everyone who's battled him, I can count with my fingers, have said he is unlike any other. But I will say this.

Mt Silver is not for the faint of heart. The wild Pokémon there are stronger than most trainers' Pokémon. Then there is the climb itself. The weather is incredible, there are blizzards, thunderstorms and even the occasional sandstorm on the eastern side. The higher you get the faster the winds become, it is impossible to fly up to the top, past half way and you'll be blown into the side or of the mountain completely. At any moment it is likely to change. If the weather doesn't get you, then the path will. It changes from a sharp rock path where rock slides often occur to deep dark caves when many a hiker has got lost in. Then there is the ice path, one misstep and you've had it.

Well there you have it, sorry about the rant but I have given you prior warning. May I see that you have at least sixteen badges?" Cynthia showed him her badge case. The professor opened one of his draws and pulled out some papers. He also picked up a pen and appeared to sign the paper.

"Could you please sign here please Cynthia." He pointed to a space on the paper and offered her the pen, which she took and subsequently used to sign the paper.

"Good, well you are now eligible to climb that mountain if you so choose. Just show this to one of the guards that monitor the roads that lead to the mountain." As he pushed the paper towards her. She took it and put it in her backpack.

"Professor how do you know that he exists?"

"Well that would be because I know who he is and why he is up there." His face took on a sombre look as he said these words and he stole a quick glance at a photograph on his desk, which Cynthia missed.

"So who is he then?"

"Before he left he made me swear not to reveal where he was going. He originally wanted his Pokémon to drop him of and then come down to live with me here. But they wouldn't leave him."

"So why is he up there then?"

"He said that he wanted to train himself and protect something."

"What?"

"He wouldn't say." She noticed that something was not quite right with the professor so she queried further.

"You didn't believe the reasons he gave you were true did you?"

"Hmm. I believe they were reasons but not the main reason, and were just a convenient way to shield the full truth."

"Go on."

"Haha, why so curious? Perhaps you should ask him yourself if you get to the top." She was slightly frustrated by his answer, she wanted to know more and she got the feeling the professor knew more than he was letting on.

"So how does he survive up there?"

"I used to put supplies in uhm, how do I say this, uhm, tactical locations, yes, every 3 months or so in the beginning. But now, I do it less often, I'm lucky to do it twice a year."

"How long has he been up there?"

"Oh quite a while now, my memory is not a good as it used to be, I'm sorry." She smiled, but she knew he was lying. Professor Oak had a brilliant memory, it was world famous but for some reason he did not want to say more on the subject. There was a pause.

"So Cynthia I believe that you also wanted me tell you about Red?"

"Yes I did." She noted how the Professor had wanted to change the subject.

"So what do you want to know?"

"So he was born here?"

"No I found him in a wreckage at Cinibar Island. From what we had gathered, a science experiment had gone wrong there killing everyone but him. I would say he was about four of five years old at the time. It seems as though his parents were killed in the explosion but we can not say for certain. No one ever found out what sort of experiment was going on."

"Where is he from then?"

"No idea. He didn't speak much, as you know he was notorious for refusing interviews but he was much worse when he was young, some of us really did think he was a mute."

"Ok, then what?"

"Well I brought him back here and enrolled him in the orphanage that used to be here, you know the place where the shop is now, the one that you were in." he chuckled as he remembered their encounter there.

"Yes" she blushed, "So what was he like?"

"Very quite. He was good at his school work but he struggled with the classes that involved acting or some form of oral work for obvious reasons. He struggled to make friends; I think he only made one friend through his school time in total." He again stole another look at the photo on his desk but once again, Cynthia failed to spot this.

"To be honest he was at home here in my lab. He was brilliant with Pokémon. You could say that he was born to be a trainer; he had a natural affinity with them, more so than with humans it should be noted. In particular he was very close to two Pokémon that were staying here at the lab." At this she noticed from his face that he hadn't planed to say this much.

"Go on." she said with a small smirk on her face.

"Well now what is there to say about that…"

"They were his starter Pokémon weren't they? You gave him two." She smirked she had actually learnt something she wasn't expecting from the professor and now he was in a predicament.

"Don't worry I won't tell anyone if you tell me what they were."

"Swear it."

"I swear it."

"The Pikachu that everyone assumed was his starter was the official starter that I gave him. It was about half a year before Red was to start his journey. He was playing in the grass just outside of Pallet with his friend, I was passing by when a wild Pikachu appeared, and I caught it before it could any harm to them.

"That Pikachu was feral, it wouldn't listen to anyone. Except to Red, he was the only person that it responded to, so when I he came to pick his first Pokémon I gave him the option of picking this Pikachu, which he indeed did."

"And the other?"

"Well when I said that Red was the only person to survive the explosion notice I say person. A Pokémon also survived it as well."

"Go on."

"Red was famous for battling with a Pikachu, Venusaur or a Blastoise." She figured out where he was going with this.

"So it was a Charmander then?" The professor nodded.

"It was a peculiar specimen, so I brought it with me to the lab to be studied. It was devoted to Red and him to it. There were many a time when had skipped school and sneak into my lab just to be with it and in turn it would somehow get out of here and get into the school so it could be with Red. When he came to pick his starter he came with the Charmander with the intention of picking it as his starter, seeing as how he created such a bond with the two Pokémon I decided to let him take the two of them."

"But no one ever saw this Pokémon. Not even in gym battles from what I gather." The professor laughed and seeing her confused face he continued.

"Red believed in giving his opponents a chance, not much really. Seeing that he used that Pikachu which was massively overpowered for most trainers", he added with another laugh, "No, that Charmander was his most powerful Pokémon, in fact it was too powerful, he didn't want to embarrass anyone so he never used it in battle."

"Oh." She had never heard anything like the sort, she doubted that anybody in history of battling had refused to use a Pokémon on the basis that it was too powerful, it was unheard of.

"Well Cynthia if there is anything else, please do ask it. I do have a lot of work to get through." There was a lot more questions that she wanted to ask but felt that she had taken up too much of the professor's time already.

"No, thank you very much professor."

"No problem at all. May I ask what your plans are now?"

"I will probably head back up to Viridian and rent a room there. And then tomorrow I think I will take on Mt Silver" she added with a smile. The professor sighed.

"Just be careful up there and good luck."

"Thank you professor."

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**AN: Again please rate and review, is the pacing OK?**


	3. The climb begins

**AN: Hello everyone, 92 back again bringing you another installment in Stepping out from a Shadow series. Quick recap Cynthia's learnt about Red and a trainer that can be found at the top of Mt Silver and she's decided to see if he's real or not. Oh and before I forget, I don't own Pokemon.**

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Cynthia's journey from Viridian to Silver town was uneventful, there were no local trainers and she barely saw let alone battle any wild Pokémon. But when she reached the small town, things began to change.

It was the height of summer and yet she had started to feel cold, she had experienced worse, Sinnoh was renowned for being the coldest region of the four and on reflection many towns and cities in Sinnoh were colder than here during summer. What got her though was the difference in temperature between Viridian and Silver, the two towns were relatively close together and yet the temperature differences were huge. In viridian she was sweating and yet here she was close to shivering.

She reached the local Pokémon centre where she began to plan her journey. She had still two to three hours before midday meaning she had ample time to start the climb later that day. What she really needed though was some supplies, she needed to stock up on food and drink and perhaps some rope in case she got herself into a sticky situation. She needed to get a sleeping bag of some sort as well; she doubted she needed a tent as surely there would be some warm caves along the way. Next she thought about a map, it would make the first part of the journey much easier following a pre-planned route but then where was the fun in that. After all she had been around ruins and caves most of her life, she had a great sense of direction and the adventure would be half of the fun. Finally she thought about medicines and other healing items for her Pokémon, surely she wouldn't need them. She was the champion of Sinnoh after all and though she had been warned about the crazy strong wild Pokémon, they couldn't bee a match for a champion's team, no of course they couldn't. Satisfied she went up to the counter to heal her Pokémon and to ask where the equipment shop was.

"I would strongly recommend against climbing Mt Silver for the next couple of weeks Miss." The nurse responded after Cynthia had asked her for the location of the equipment shop.

"And why is that?" she asked with a confused look.

"Well uhm... It's just a feeling really, it's just something we know, uhm… Something is going to happen." The nurse said rather sheepishly. By now Cynthia was frustrated as well as confused. How could someone know about 'something happening' based on a feeling, it just wasn't logical.

"Well OK, could you tell me where the equipment shop is anyway. I need to get some supplies anyway?" The nurse reluctantly told Cynthia and handed over the fully healed Pokémon about a minute later. Afterwards she walked the short distance to the shop and handed over to the vendor a list of the things that she needed.

"You're not planning on climbing Mt Silver are you?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Well for starters you could do with a few more things and well call weird but something's not quite right about going up today."

"You're the second person to say something along those lines to me today. The nurse at the Pokémon centre said something similar."

"Hmm, it's a local thing I guess, we just know when something is up." For the first time Cynthia began to question herself. Two different people had told her not to go attempt the climb, she should follow their advice. But both of them seemed a bit, not right in the head. She knew it was wrong to think like that but seriously, it couldn't much worse than Mt Coronet.

"So are you sure just want these items? If you do intend to climb the mountain I really do recommend that you take a full camo tent, at least 5 hot water bottles, triple-strength and length rope, you'd probably want some first grade medicines as well, not to mention some heavy duty repels." Cynthia was unsure of the vendor's tone, she could sense that he trying to force her to buy these things but there was another part that seemed as though he was genuinely concerned. She thought for a moment but then perhaps he was putting on the tone so that she might be fooled into thinking that she needed these things when the reality was that she didn't.

"No thanks, just the items on the list please."

"Very well then." She picked up his disappointed tone mentally smiling, it was clear to her now that he had been trying to rip her of. She could have afforded the items but she hated the fact that being champion meant that people would try to sell you things for a greater than average price. He gathered the items that she had requested and put them on the counter, she handed over the money which still was quite a large amount before she took them and carefully placed them in her now rather full bag.

She left the shop and took the road that led up to the mountain, she could see a short distance from her what looked like a small house on the right hand side of the road. When she reached it, a small sign in front of the building read, "Route 28, Mt Silver ahead. Please have your passes and trainer cards ready." Cynthia took her pass and her trainer card out from her bag and continued until she was parallel with the building. She looked to her right to see and elderly man behind a glass panel looking at her.

"Trainer card and Mt Silver pass please." He then directed to a slit at the bottom of the panel. She complied by slipping the two items through them. The old man picked them up inspecting them thoroughly.

"Everything checks out, you are free to pass. Good luck." He then slipped her pass and her trainer card back the slot.

"Thank you." She replied while scooping up her things and then placing them in her bag.

"No seriously, you'll need all the luck you can get on that mountain." She looked up at him to check if he was joking. The stare that met her indicated that he was fully serious.

"Thank you again. I'll keep that in mind." She said hastily, and quickly walked away towards the mountain. She could still feel the old man's stare at her back but she dared not turn back to check.

Before too long she was in sight of first cave that led up the mountain, and the last Pokémon centre before the mountain itself. When she reached it, she fleeted with the notion of going inside but decided against it, if the nurse in charge of this centre had said anything like what the vender or the nurse from Silver town had said she would definitely loose her resolve now. She continued and entered the cave.

After entering the first cave, she noticed a lake and waterfall to her left and a rock face right in front of her that she thought she could climb up. She pondered her first decision slightly shivering from a chill that had crept up on her.

"Milotic lets go!" She summoned her large serpentine water Pokémon which leapt into the lake, swimming around for a while before swimming back toward Cynthia. She got on telling her to swim up that waterfall. Milotic did so with ease, to which Cynthia smiled, not many Pokémon in the world could do what her Milotic had just done. They say a small landing up ahead, to which Milotic swam towards. Cynthia jumped of returning Milotic in the process. She looked around noticing yet another cave entrance. A cave within a cave, how strange she thought to herself. She entered only to find that most of it had collapsed in on itself. Then she heard a shriek.

"Shit!" she said out loud. She'd just stumbled on a Golbat nest. There seemed to be between ten and twenty of them, all seeming angry that their slumber had been disturbed. A couple of them a beeline for her.

"Lucario battle dance!" A bluish, (with yellow and black patches) bipedal, canine looking with a spike coming out of the back of its hand and a single spike sprouting from its chest, emerged from her Pokéball. She knew it had a type disadvantage, it being a fighting type (although the Golbat's poison attacks would be ineffective as it was part steel), but she felt that her Lucario was at high enough level to counter this.

"Use Psychic" Lucario complied doing significant damage to one of the Golbat, which fell to the floor, unable to get up. This seemed to enrage the rest of the flock, it was not long before the rest of them were attacking Lucario. Despite his formidable power, she realised that Lucario would not be able to keep up with the sheer numbers.

"Garchomp, Togekiss, Spiritomb, Roserade, Milotic get ready." It did not take long after this. Her six Pokémon were all much higher levels than the Golbats and thus were not fazed by the numbers problem.

When all the Golbat were unconscious on the floor, she recalled all but her Milotic. She would need her soon to get back down the waterfall. She smiled to herself, she had taken a wrong turn but that always happened on an adventure. Those Golbats didn't seem that strong, it was odd for them to all attack at once but there were probably young near by. They must have been protecting them. Anyhow all the people that had told her she would come across crazy strong Pokémon were clearly just exaggerating.

She was back where she had started but now knowing she had to climb this rock face. There seemed to be a small section where there were dents and groves, possibly made by other trainers who had come this route. They seemed to be too well placed for where your hands and feet should go to be just coincidence.

She started to climb, she had done similar things studying ancient ruins in Sinnoh but after 10 minutes she realised why Mt Silver had got a reputation. The dents and groves on this section of the face had suddenly disappeared. She looked around, noticing some groves to her left and slightly above her. She tried to reach out for them, but she could only get fingertips to them. _'Fuck'_ she said to herself, she looked down, she could easily survive a drop down, but she could do some dame to herself. _'No, I'm not a quitter. Just have to chance my arm a bit.'_ She moved her legs up the highest possible groves at her position.

She extended her legs and moved to her left at the same time, she grabbed onto a ledge with both her hands but her feet were treading air. Desperately she tried to find a foot hole, while clinging on onto the ledge with all her strength. Finally she found a grove for her right foot. She used it as leverage to move herself up, she knew from experience that you should not dwell at a place when your arms were under pressure, they would tire out making it harder to complete the climb.

Five minutes later she reached a platform. She heaved herself onto it and laid on her back. She laughed. _'Oh dear Cynthia. What's happened? You used to find this cave exploring thing easy.'_ She rested for a few minutes, thankful that there were no wild Pokémon around. She got on her knees and took stock of her surroundings. There was an opening a few meters ahead of her where light was coming through and on her left side was a near vertical rock face ('_Another one_' she thought to herself) which looked as though it was impossible to scale. She placed her left hand down on the ground to push her up but immediately took it back when she felt heat from the rock that she had just touched.

She carefully placed her hand down again, the rock wasn't too hot. It had just caught her by surprise the first time. She felt around and found that a region from the far left of the rock face to where she had initially found the heated rock all had rocks or dirt that felt warmer than they should be. _'Hot springs perhaps.' _ It wasn't unusual for there to be hot springs inside mountains, you normally find them near volcanoes and to her knowledge Mt Silver wasn't volcanic. But then maybe Mt Silver was plate boundary. She tried to think back to her Geography classes back in her school day. _'Useless subject, no where near as interesting as history'_ she kept thinking to herself. _'There is obviously water near or under the mountain, and if it is on a plate boundary then there is likely to be magma deep underneath which would heat up the water, which in turn could heat up these rocks if they are directly over the water.'_ Satisfied with her answer she continued to the opening, another chill reaching her as she got close to the exit.

As she got outside she felt snow gently fall onto her head and felt wind rushing against her face. She looked up there were quite a few clouds right above her but they were wispy, not menacing at all. She looked over her right, the direction from where the wind was blowing from. There she saw huge black clouds and lighting crackle in between them. She grimaced, judging by the wind speed that storm would hit here in a few hours. She looked around. They were rocks everywhere she looked. Sharp, jagged and jutting out at odd angles. The path ahead would not be easy. The boulders seemed to go on as far as she could see, but there were more caves above and below her. She could see now why Mt Silver had gained its reputation. Even with a map it would be very tricky to navigate. She checked her watch to find that it was still only 6.30. There were two choices that she had. She could go back into the small cave with the warm rocks and set up for the night or she could press onwards towards her goal.

She had gotten her last decision wrong but this one she needed to get right. Going back into the cave would seem the safe choice, she would defiantly avoid the storm that was coming towards her but then she figured that perhaps so would the local Pokémon and they go into that cave as well, plus tomorrow this place could be covered in snow making the trip a hell of a lot harder. If she pressed on now, getting as high up as possible, find a cave and stay in there tonight then she would have an easier time of it tomorrow. She liked her reasoning and figuring that she would have around four hours before the storm hit her, she decided that she would continue up until nine, when she would find a nice cave to stay the night.

The rock path was as difficult as Professor Oak said it would. Every so often she would lose her footing as loose rock sediment gave away under her pressure. She was lucky to only suffer a few grazes to her legs so far. She reached a small landing where she decided to rest a bit. After a few minutes she heard footsteps coming from another path. She readied a Pokéball in anticipation but relaxed in when she saw a Teddiursa approach her. Teddiursa were generally peaceful Pokémon so she relaxed, it surely wouldn't attack her.

"TEDDIURRRR-SAAA!" it screamed as ran towards her. She barely had time release Garchomp as it attempted to slash at her. It turned to face Garchomp, clearly not afraid of it all. Its speed impressed her; Garchomp was barely able to dodge its slash attacks.

"Brick Break Garchomp!" she cried. Garchomp connected. She smiled expecting it to be a KO. She gasped as the Teddiursa was able to get up from her attack, now she knew that the wild Pokémon here truly were strong.

"URSAAA!" Cynthia frowned when she saw the massive Ursaring come up from the path that the Teddiursa had appeared from. It was probably the Teddiursa's parent and if the Teddiursa was anything to go by, this Ursaring was going to be extremely though. The Teddiursa meanwhile had run back behind the Ursaring while Garchomp and it stared each other down. It seemed as though it was about to attack when it suddenly looked up, its face now contorted in fear. It picked up the Teddiursa and ran back from where it had come.

To say that Cynthia was confused would be an understatement. Ursarings hardly ever got scared and it was unheard of that one would run from a fight. Its face that it made scared her though, this creature was clearly strong yet it seemed in terror of something genuinely afraid for its well being. She looked up trying to see what it was looking at.

Nothing.

The clouds might have been darker and the snow dropping a bit heavier but that was the only change in the weather from about an hour ago. She looked back down and recalled Garchomp. She looked towards the storm, the wind speed had picked up and it was gaining on her, time to find shelter she thought.

She was in darkness for a second.

She looked up just as the normal lighting returned. She'd missed it, whatever it was. It could have been a freak cloud but she doubted it. It moved to fast to be a cloud and surely a darker cloud would cool the temperature around her more. No, it had to be a Pokémon. It must have been the thing that had startled the Ursaring. It made sense that another Pokémon scared it. She began to think about the power this Pokémon could have. First it had made a very powerful Ursaring scared to its wits end and secondly it was flying incredibly high to cast such a shadow. But how? The winds here at this level were quick enough, anymore and she would be struggling with her balance. At that height she couldn't imagine how quick and strong they were.

She felt chill go down the back of her neck. For the first time on this journey she felt genuine fear. It was time to find shelter.

Fast.

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**AN: and so ends another chapter. I will try and get the next one done tomorrow. I'm starting work Monday so there won't be much time for me to write as much afterwards. :( And please Review. I would really appreciate some feedback on what is and what is not working and any errors as well.**

**Cheers 92 out.**


	4. The pack attacks

**AN: Here's chapter 4, hope you enjoy it, and once again I do not own Pokemon in any way shape or form**

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She hardly got any sleep that night. The cave she was in was cold and damp. There were shrieks every so often which actually frightened Cynthia. She wished that she had bought that tent and hot water bottles now; they would have kept her warm at sheltered from any Pokémon that may sneak up on her. She was restless and on edge, she kept getting the feeling that any moment now something would attack her.

Time passed how long she wasn't sure. It felt like hours but for all she knew it could have just been a few minutes. She heard footsteps and soft cries approach her. Desperately she groped for a Pokéball, finally feeling one, who was in it, she had no idea. She also grabbed her torch and turned it on. Waving it around her; she took in all that she saw.

"SNEASEL!" A creature cried as her flashlight moved over its location. She threw her Pokéball out of which came Togekiss. Togekiss was at a disadvantage, it being a flying type while Sneasel was part ice.

"Aura Sphere." Cynthia cried as Togekiss conjured up a blue ball of energy in its mouth and then fired it straight at the Sneasel. The Sneasel couldn't dodge the super effective attack, but was able to push itself back onto its feet. It stared at Togekiss and Cynthia, cocking its head onto a side. Cynthia could tell it was thinking things through, judging the best course of attack. It was odd behaviour for wild Pokémon.

It jumped and disappeared, a Faint attack she realised. She frowned and told her Togekiss to keep alert. Suddenly a rock pile fell onto Togekiss causing great damage to the flying type. Cynthia pointed flash light to where the rock pile had come from. She saw the Sneasel on a ledge slashing at the rocks directly above Togekiss causing them to fall.

"Aura Sphere again Togekiss!" The flying type complied and the blue ball of energy smashed through the rocks that were falling onto Togekiss and directly into the chest of the Sneasel. The Sneasel fell from its ledge unto the ground. Cynthia couldn't believe that it still managed to get up from another super effective attack. It made the same movement again as before with its head. This Pokémon was clearly smart, she had never seen a wild Pokémon take full advantage of its environment before let alone formulate a strategy to cause a lot of damage, it was like the Sneasel knew that rocks would cause more damage to her flying type.

"SNEEEE!" it cried. Cynthia was unnerved by the small smirk that appeared on the creature's face. It moved from side to side clearly still able to fight. Then she heard movement coming from all directions. She heard answering cries. It had called back up she realised. Before long she was surrounded by a massive pack of Sneasel. She released all her Pokémon but they were still outnumbered at least three to one. The first Sneasel laughed as it looked her up and down. This was their home turf she realised, they had the advantage and they would do whatever they wanted with her and her Pokémon.

They moved about bobbing and weaving moving in and out, disorientating Cynthia and her Pokémon. The pack moved as though they were controlled by one brain. Each member knowing exactly what it needed to do; this did not comfort Cynthia as she knew that the strikes would come thick and fast but from which direction?

There was a massive roar. The Sneasels looked scared and backed of a little. The lead Sneasel looked thoroughly annoyed, it wanted to press home their attack, but it saw the fear on the faces of its compatriots. It cried out calling of the attack and the pack backed of into the darkness again. Despite the cold Cynthia was sweating, what could have been so terrifying that the Sneasels would back of? She heard a rumbling and the ground around her began to shake.

Suddenly not one but two Steelix burst through a wall scattering boulders around as though they were nothing. Cynthia quickly recalled all her Pokémon and tried to take shelter. Fortunately for her the two Steelix did not seem to take any notice of her. They were fighting each other. What for, Cynthia didn't care. All she knew was that they sending huge boulders flying around and sometimes they would send the huge body of the other into the sides of the cavern. If she didn't get away soon then Cynthia would be crushed.

She saw an opening as one of the Steelix smashed the other with its tail sending it in the opposite direction of Cynthia, the Steelix rushed after its opponent leaving the passage clear for her. She made a break for it, flashlight guiding the way; she didn't look back, listening to the screams and roars of the two Steelix fighting each other. She ran until the ground stopped rumbling and the roars of the two Steelix couldn't be heard.

She bent over, hands on her knees, panting and gasping for air. She'd unknowing ran into a small clearing near an exit to this cave. _'Shit, that was close'_ she thought. She looked around, this clearing seemed to be quite secluded and the ground felt quite warm. _'Another hot spring maybe'_ she grinned at her good luck. She had managed to grab her backpack before she got away from the Steelix but her sleeping bag was still in that location. _'Well I at least I got something, better than nothing at all I suppose.'_ She sat down and reached into her bag, pulling out a drink and a chocolate bar. She quietly ate it while taking sips in between. She started to feel drowsy and it was not long before she finally fell asleep.

She woke up as she felt a wind blow over her and a beam of light fell straight on her face. She was groggy, her eyes not wanting to fully open just yet, she was not a morning person. After a couple of minutes she took stock of where she was. She looked at her watch. _'Shit! Quarter past eleven!'_ She had overslept, not surprising since she had gone to sleep very late last night. She cursed as she took out some more food and drink from her bag; she wouldn't get as much climbing done today as she did yesterday.

After she had eaten and drank her fill, she packed her bag, got up and made for the exit of the cave. The nearer she got to it, the colder she became, she could feel the wind now, blowing against her as it entered the cave. She hugged herself trying to keep warm before suddenly she slipped falling onto her back. She groaned in pain as she felt the back of her head feeling a small lump. Her elbow and knees were bloody now. Her muscles were tight and she now had a headache. Without doubt this had been the hardest journey she had been on so far. And she realised that she had been lucky several times, if things had turned out slightly differently she could have a few broken bones or worse dead.

She rolled onto her knees feeling around before she found the cause of her slip. Ice. The ground around the exit to this cave was encased in black ice. This was ice that was completely transparent making it almost impossible to spot. Carefully she got up looking for things on walls around her to grab in case she slipped again. Gingerly she made it out of the cave before she was met by the cold.

It was a dramatic change, the shelter the cave had provided her was now gone as the biting cold winds slammed against her face. She was shivering almost straight away and at the same time trying to keep her balance against the winds which came at her at an alarming speed and swirling around her in all sorts of directions. She looked around; it was a sea of ice, all around her she could see white blue ice that glistened as it encased the rocks underneath it. She tried to find a path that wasn't covered in ice. She finally found one; it was narrow and steep and looked as though it could crumble at any moment in time. One misstep and she really would have it, just as Professor Oak had said.

She gingerly looked down at the side of the mountain. It startled to her to see that there were clouds beneath her now, she figured that she must have been around a two-thirds or three-quarters the way up. She must have made massive progress last night when she ran for her life away from the fighting Steelix, thinking about it now, there did seem to be an incline as she ran. She smiled to herself; at least she had made better progress than she thought she would.

She moved forward carefully, one wrong placed foot and she would fall most probably to her death. She grabbed onto any ledges or groves she could find to support herself to provide something to hold onto in case the ground under her let go. It was a pain staking process, it was almost two hours before the ice started to relent and the path began to flatten though the winds continued their onslaught as though they didn't want her to reach the top.

She reached a small platform, which to her surprise had a couple of trees on it. They bore no fruit unfortunately as they were covered in snow. In fact the more the more she noticed the more snow there was. It wasn't the soft fluffy snow that she enjoyed, it was coarse and pretty hard, most likely from many blizzards that had passed this way covering the land in ice and snow. She took stock for a few moments before her heart skipped a beat. A boulder had just moved on it own accord. She had first thought it was a Graveler or Golem but was in for a surprise and the creature unfurled itself. A Tyranitar.

The greenish hulking monster seemed to be waking up from its own sleep, its imposing body stretched out seemingly trying stretch out any tight muscles it had. The armour-like hide glistened as the light hit, it gave the impression it could withstand anything. There were few dents and few scratches on its hide, while the spikes on its shoulders were incredibly long, the spikes on the back of its head and tail were also mostly long and sharp but a few spikes were much shorter than the others, presumably being broken of during battles of the past. It was clear to her that this Tyranitar had seen many a battle and was incredibly strong.

The Tyranitar didn't pay any attention to her (she was silently grateful), instead moving towards where the trees were, and proceeded to dig underneath them, using its sharp claws to easily peel away the snow, rock and ice, until it had found what looked like water. It took many gulps before it seemed happy that it had quenched its thirst. It sat back and looked around before it noticed Cynthia. She froze in shock as the Tyranitar stared at her in silence. She couldn't tell it but the Tyranitar was looking her up and down trying to decide if she was a worthy foe or not. She slowly reached for Garchomp's Pokéball, trying not to startle the creature. She didn't realise that the Tyranitar had noticed this and had quickly deduced that she was a trainer; it got up in anticipation for its opponent.

"Garchomp! Battle Dance!" she cried as she released her ground dragon Pokémon. The two pseudo-legendary Pokémon stared each other down, each not giving an inch.

"Garchomp, Dragon Rush." Garchomp flew at its opponent, the two appendages on its head glowed light blue before its whole body became enveloped by the aura. It was about to hit the Tyranitar before it was grabbed by the Tyranitar not even knocking the rock Pokémon back. Tyranitar proceeded to bring Garchomp up towards its mouth where it bit down on it with an ice fang. Garchomp screamed in pain as the super effective attack hit.

"Garchomp, Brick Break to its face." Garchomp brought both wings up and smacked the Tyranitar on either side of its face. The Tyranitar released Garchomp immediately, as it shrieked in pain, taking a couple of steps back in the process. It opened its mouth, a blue ring appearing in it. It let out a roar as rocks shot out from the ring, it had used Stone Edge.

"Dig" Garchomp quickly dug underground avoiding the attack. The Tyranitar however smiled as it jumped up and as it landed it brought its fist down to smash the ground around it. Cynthia rocked back and forth as the Earthquake spread around the platform; she could hear of in the distance a rock slide had just occurred, most probably from the earthquake. The Tyranitar smiled, it thought it had won; an earthquake would do greater damage to an underground foe. It was shocked when Garchomp appeared from underneath it slamming into Tyranitar, sending it flying back into a tree. Cynthia smiled; Garchomp was her first Pokémon and was also her strongest. They had seen this done to them before and she knew that however powerful this Tyranitar was her Garchomp would get through this.

The Tyranitar got up, breathing heavily she noted, that dig was super effective and must have done a lot of damage.

"Dragon Claw" Garchomp's claws turned light green and she rushed towards the Tyranitar only for the first slash to be blocked by one of Tyranitar's arms and Cynthia noticed that Tyranitar's had also turned green. It brought its other arm down intending to slash Garchomp.

"Block and use Flamethrower." Garchomp brought its arm up just in time to stop the attack and proceeded to shoot red hot flames right into the Tyranitar's face. The Tyranitar took some steps back, its eyes closed from the Flamethrower that had just hit it.

"Finish it Garchomp. Giga Impact." Garchomp raced towards its opponent, its body becoming encased in purple energy and orange streaks. But the Tyranitar opened it eyes just in time, opened its mouth, gathered orange energy in its mouth and launched a devastating Hyper Beam right at Garchomp, sending her flying back.

"Garchomp, hang in there girl!" Cynthia cried as she ran to where Garchomp lay. She hugged her starter, feeling its bruises as she did so. The Tyranitar sat down exhausted from its last attack.

"GAAR!" Garchomp cried as it got back up; it smiled at Cynthia letting her know that it was all right. Cynthia however noticed it was also breathing heavily; it couldn't keep going for long. Both her Garchomp and the Tyranitar were physical attackers, the Tyranitar seemed to have the upper hand so far as she was the ones making the moves, it was able to counter her physical attacks with appropriate physical/special counter attack or use its brute strength to stop her attacks head on. She had to make the Tyranitar come to her, where Garchomp's superior speed and agility would hopefully give her the win. A roar from across the platform indicated that Tyranitar had recovered. It stood waiting for Cynthia's commands.

"Hold fast Garchomp." Garchomp turned back with a confused look, Cynthia nodded and Garchomp nodded back a more confident look on its face. The Tyranitar was also confused and stood waiting for an attack. The two Pokémon stood staring each other down, a few rumbles coming from the Tyranitar. It growled before charging at Garchomp. Its body becoming encased in purple energy and orange streaks. Garchomp however remained perfectly still. The Tyranitar was now only a few meters away from Garchomp but Cynthia still remained silent.

"Now!" Garchomp side-stepped the charging monster, its claws glowing white. It brought its claws in a quick motion up and then back down delivery a devastating Brick Break to the Tyranitar. Tyranitar lay on the ground exhausted and in pain from that last attack, it needed to recover and this was Cynthia's opportunity to finish the battle, she felt bad for hitting an opponent when it was down but she needed to finish this fight sooner rather than later.

"Giga Impact." This time with the Tyranitar immobilised, Garchomp connected knocking the great brute out. She ran over to Garchomp, who was breathing very heavily. The battle had taken more out of her than Cynthia had expected at the beginning. This was quite easily the strongest wild Pokémon Cynthia had encountered, she defiantly believed now that 'crazy strong' Pokémon made this mountain her home.

"Sorry girl." She said to Garchomp as she hugged her Pokémon. She cursed herself for not bringing any healing medicines for her Pokémon now. If there were to be more like this Tyranitar then her whole team would be in trouble. She returned Garchomp to its Pokéball made and her way across the platform before the Tyranitar could wake up again.

The going had got incredibly tough now, the path was even narrower and the rocks cut into her skin. She was slipping almost every other step, there was that much ice. She clung on to the side of the mountain as the winds blew at now incredibly speed, she had never encountered wind speeds like this before and to make things worse it was snowing heavily now. Large dark clouds surrounded her, and she could hear the distance sound of thunder quickly approaching. She needed to find shelter quickly before this huge storm came in. She suddenly felt a rock hit her and looked up.

"Snee." The pack of Sneasel was above her, laughing. They started throwing small rocks at her trying to dislodge her before the lead Sneasel she recognised slashed at the rock grove she was holding on to. The grove crumbled and Cynthia lost balance as it did. A rock hit her in her chest pushing away from the side of the mountain. The wind pushed her further away and then gravity took her down. She screamed and tried to reach for her Pokéballs, she didn't have time. She hit the ground and fell unconscious.

"She seems better." Cynthia awoke to the sound of talking, her head was throbbing and it felt as though there was a bandage around her head. She felt sharp pains on her right side ribs and felt as though she had been stabbed along her right arm and leg.

"She feels warmer at least." She felt something touch her forehead, it felt like hand, but she gasped inwardly as she felt another thing touch her head. It felt like three bulbous cushions. She opened her eyes.

She gasped a little as she stared into a white-grey face with menacing purple eyes.

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**AN: For those of you who don't like cliffhangers, I am very sorry. I will try my best to get the next chapter to you as soon as possible, I might be able to finish later today. Rate, Review the usual. **

**Cheers**


	5. A man and his mountain

**AN: Hey everyone, this'll be my last update for a while- start work tomorrow. I'll try to write when I can. Anyway I don't own ****Pokemon..yet**

**Also Thank you to Richy1991 for being the first reviewer, and firstinclass thank you for spotting that appalling spelling error by me. Normally I re-read my work to make sure there's no errors, can't believe I missed that. **

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The winds blew at the greatest speed at the peak of Mt Silver. Snow and hail fell down upon the peak as like miniature bullets trying to pelt an unstoppable foe into submission. No living thing could possibly live here. And yet there was a Pikachu and Glaceon standing right in the middle of the wide peak staring each other down.

To any observer, it would seem these two Pokémon were fighting furiously, the viciousness of the attacks being example enough. The attacks left small craters at the top the mountain. The two Pokémon seemed oblivious to winds and the weather each fixated with the goal of defeating the other. If anyone was there to watch they would have been treated to a battle of truly epic proportions. The speed at which they moved was unlike any other known Pokémon. The attack strength greater than anything seen before, there were counter attacks, blocks and the modifying of the environment around them to both defend from attacks or do extra damage to the opponent.

Every so often however, they would stop and look over to where the peak rose slightly higher than the rest plain. At first glance it seemed as though they were staring at a rock but on closer inspection there seemed to be a man sat crossed legged. He too seemed unaffected by the weather, he barley moved at all giving the impression that he was a statue. He wore blue jeans that were ripped and shredded in many places; his shoes seemed to be a dull brown but if another look was taken you'd say they were faded red. He wore black fingerless gloves with some sort of silver bracelet on his left wrist, his right hand was up near his neck seemingly holding something. He wore a black hoodie with the hood up so that only the lower part of his face was showing. He seemed to have slightly tanned skin and he also had untidy beard growing as well.

He nodded at the two Pokémon and they continued to battle each other. This was training at the extreme yet he knew that they were gaining very little now, they had been up here for five or four years, even he was not sure anymore. But it was a good that he was up here, he had told his Pokémon many a time to leave him up here; it was he who deserved to be up here not them. They had not sinned like he had; they did not need to stay in his own personal hell. But they had stubbornly refused, loyally staying with him through thick and thin.

He went back to staring back at the training battle, his right hand twirling the object that was connected to the chain around his neck. He was unflappable up here on this mountain, the place which he called home. He was still unfazed when a figure suddenly appeared next to him. Merely nodding again as though he was expecting it.

The figure wore a large brown cloak that completely covered its body. It sat down next to the man and watched the training battle with him. They sat in silence; the only sounds that were heard were from the battle and the weather. Time passed before the figure pulled out from its cloak a small cup and a large thermos flask. The figure's arms and hands were not human; they were white-grey and it only had three fingers on each hand, and their ends were circular and cushion like. It poured what looked like tea from the thermos flask into the cup. It then began to drink the tea slowly still looking at the battle.

They still sat in silence, not once even looking at each other, before finally. _'You need to shave'_ the left part of the man's mouth moved upwards (making a small awkward half-smile) as he heard these words in his head. The voice was not his, and he turned to his left finally looking at the figure. A white-grey face met him, with startling purple eyes, a small grin on its face. _'You've won already, you can speak now.'_ He heard the voice again in his head as the figure took another sip of tea.

The man's face definitely had a smile now, he felt his face a little and projected his thoughts back. _'Really? It's not that bad is it?' _The figure took yet another sip of tea draining the cup, it quickly refilled the cup before replying to the man. _'I think the correct human term is: It looks like there are pubes growing on your face!'_ The man let out a laugh, the first he realised in a long time.

'_Well Mewtwo?'_

'_Didn't seem to be any hikers about when I did my round. Bob is currently doing the final one before we head back for the night.'_

'_Hmm.'_

'_C-Dwag and Lucy have gone to get some supplies.'_

'_Wait C-dog?'_

'_No C-Dwag, as in D-W-A-G. It's how C is referring to himself now.'_

'_O…K…'_

'_I'm telling you it's all that flying he does, there's not enough Oxygen up there. It's messing with his brain. Mind you it was already fucked up anyway.' _The man smirked slightly as Mewtwo said this.

'_When you say **get supplies**?'_

'_Just some berries from trees that still bear fruit.'_

'_Good'_

'_And some food from the town.'_

'_What?'_ The man quickly turned to face Mewtwo.

'_Don't worry they took money with them.'_

'_Good.'_ The man relaxed a little, he did not like to have to steal full stop, for one it could give away who they were if they were ever spotted and secondly he felt that it was morally wrong to steal, they had lots of money anyway. Next to him Mewtwo had finished two cups of tea.

'_You have a drinking problem.'_ The man smirked.

'_I'll cut back when you shave.'_ Mewtwo retorted, glaring back at the man. Silence returned to both their minds looking back at the training battle that was taking place. Pikachu narrowly avoiding a Take Down attempt.

Mewtwo then raised a hand to feel the snow falling on it. '_Storms coming in, four hours I reckon.'_

'_Four and a half.'_ The man replied.

'_Nerd.'_

'_Coming from you?'_

'_Shut up!'_

"Hey Vee no fair! You can't just change forms in a middle of a battle!" Mewtwo and the man looked back at the battle to see Pikachu standing in front of a Jolteon. The Glaceon no where to be found. The Jolteon ran over to where the man was sitting a white light encasing its body, shrinking in size before turning into a small brown dog like creature. The Eevee snuggled into the man's lap, looking up into his face.

"G, Pikka's bullying me. I was about to beat him this time."

"That is so not true!" The Pikachu had run up towards the man and jumped onto his shoulder.

"We agreed before the battle that she was not allowed to change her forms during the battle, clearly she broke the agreement." The Pikachu was talking incredibly fast and had a very annoyed expression on his face. He smiled at his two small companions; he understood everything they had said after learning Pokémon language long ago.

'_This true Vee?' _he projected his thoughts towards the Eevee.

'_Yes G, but please don't tell Pikka. He'll get all obnoxious and run like a mad Pokémon around the house.'_

'_Well Pikka. You have to be prepared for anything in battle as you very well know.'_ This time he had projected his thoughts to the Pikachu.

'_BULLSHIT! She's got your number bro, all she has do is bat her eyelids at you. Just cause she's the baby of our crew doesn't mean she should get special treatment.'_ While projecting his thoughts back to the man the Pikachu had been running from one shoulder of the man to another, being incapable of sitting still.

'_Hmmm. It's getting late, the three of you should head back down home. I'll be down shortly.'_ This time he projected his thought to all of them. Vee and Pikka immediately jumped of him and ran down a path of to their left. Mewtwo however stayed for a few moments a look of concern on its face. It watched the man get up and walk towards a small patch at the peak.

'_Don't be too long, you'll get a cold.'_ Mewtwo said before disappearing.

The man walked over to where two stones standing straight up were. On the left stone there was an engraving 'Snorlax, our sleepy loving friend.' And on the right 'Saur, He laughed in the face of anything that was thrown at him.' The man fell to his knees, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. He looked up at an angle. He knew Pallet Town was in that direction and there he knew another grave stood. All three his fault. All three he had to repent for. All the three the reason he should rot away and die here.

He thought back to that day. How could he have been fooled so easily? Why had been so arrogant? He should have stayed with her. And to think that he had left Saur and Snorlax as well. Expecting them to do the job that he should have done. He remembered arriving at the scene far too late. He should have rushed back faster after he realised he had been fooled. But in his stupidity he had checked to make sure. He had been so arrogant that he thought nobody could touch him, nobody was as smart as him.

The image burned in his memory. Snorlax beaten and bloodied to a pulp, his arms broken, his face down on the ground already dead when he arrived. Saur bleeding out, the petals on his flower ripped to shreds, he had cradled Saur's head listening to the once great fighter take its last breaths. Saur's last words rang through: "I failed you." With that the great being passed from this world. He had looked behind Saur to see her body. Broken. Sprawled spread eagle on the floor, her face looked shocked and confused.

He broke down thinking about them. His once statuesque stance gone. He cried, head bobbing up and down which each sniff.

He stayed there until he let it all out. Finally he had regained his composure, the stone like appearance had returned. He turned back and took the path that Vee and Pikka had taken some time before. His mind was blank, as it often was after one of these moments; his feet knew how and where they were taking him. He didn't think about the route, he left it up to muscle memory.

It wasn't long before he was in front of an opening. The door they had crafted from wood, leaves and stone keeping the cavern safe from the elements. He opened it and walked in, quickly shutting it to prevent the heat from escaping. The sight that greeted him made him cheer up inside. Pikka was in the centre of the room, with an old red cap on his head, trying to fix a radio they had found a couple of months ago. Vee was snuggled up in her blankets her nose in yet another novel. '_It won't be long before she's read everything here.'_ He thought to himself, looking at the bookshelf they had carved at the right of the room and the books that were on them. Mewtwo sat directly in front of him at the table at the back of the room. Still drinking tea, but at the same time setting up a chess board. He pulled of his hoodie and went over to the table, to help Mewtwo with the chess board. This time he would beat him.

The game was a close one, they had agreed beforehand not to peer into each others mind (that would of course be cheating), and both Vee and Pikka (who was still wearing the cap) had jumped onto the spare chairs to watch the action. Pikka kept trying to give help to both Mewtwo and G, getting frustrated whenever one of them would take a long time to make a move. Vee however did not fully understand chess, to be honest with herself she didn't really like it that much, but she came to see if G could finally beat Mewtwo, she really wanted him to but Mewtwo was a bit good.

"Check," G was over the moon, as he positioned his rook. He hadn't got a check in his last two games, so this was quite an accomplishment. Mewtwo waved his purple tail though no emotion was shown from his face. His mood deteriorated, that was Mewtwo's tell, he quickly studied the board, he frowned, and he couldn't see how Mewtwo could win from here. Mewtwo took his rook with a knight, he countered by taking the knight with his bishop. Mewtwo then moved his rook down the board.

"Check Mate."

"Wait. What?" He stared at the board, he groaned, how did he miss that, it was so obvious.

"Dude I told you, you should have that pawn there, ahh man, you should really listen to me more often." Pikka said as it climbed on his right shoulder.

"Oh well never mind, you'll defiantly win next time!" Vee added snuggling into his chest.

He looked back up at Mewtwo, who was of course sipping on his tea. _'Well played.'_

'_Why thank you. To be honest I had this game won about seven turns ago, when you fell for my trap. I left my queen to be taken on purpose so that I could execute this plan.' _G frowned, he had fallen for that trick two games ago. He looked at the small clock they had on their table, frowning again when he saw it.

'_Bob, Lucy and C should be back by now.'_ He projected his thoughts so that all of them could hear.

'_I'm sure Lucy and C are making sure that we have adequate supplies.' _Mewtwo replied.

'_More than adequate.'_ Pikka added with a small laugh.

'_And you know how Bob is with doing his rounds, G. He may be more mischievous than Pikka but at least he has a heart.' _Vee added sticking her tongue out a Pikka. Pikka responded with a tackle knocking the two of them off the table.

'_Still'_ G thought _'bout forty-five minutes till that storm hits.'_ He turned to watch the two play fight with each other across the room.

'_Fancy losing to me gain?'_ G grinned.

They had barely started the new game when they heard a large roar. He knew exactly that roar belonged to Bob and as far as he could tell he was in trouble. He leapt of his seat, raced towards the door and flung it open. He tore of down the path, not caring for his safety until he had found the large Blastoise. He was shocked to see Bob carrying what looked to be a bundle of sorts. On further inspection he realised that it was a young woman. She was bleeding.

"She needs help." He nodded, and took the woman from Bob, placing her in a fireman's carry. They ran back to the cave as fast as they could. Bob not being able to keep up fell back as he sprinted towards the cave. He met up with Pikka, Vee and Mewtwo, conveying the seriousness of the situation to them through thoughts. Mewtwo nodded and teleported them as far as they could see, repeating the process until they were outside the cave. They rushed in, placing her on his bed. Vee rushed of to find the med kit, while Mewtwo had closed his eyes and raised his right hand, trying to figure out what was wrong. He checked for a pulse, her wrist was icy but she still had one though it was very weak. Vee nudged him, the med kit in her mouth. He took it from her, taking out the bandages. The cut on her head was not deep fortunately, he dabbed it trying to stop the bleeding. Mewtwo opened its eyes and felt her body.

'_Two cracked ribs here and here,' _he pointed to the spots, '_slight fracture to her Humerus'_ as its hands went over her right upper arm, _'shallow cuts on her right forearm, more cuts on her right leg, bit deeper this time, still not too serious and some bad bruising as well.'_ Mewtwo continued.

'_I don't think her head injury is too bad, we'll just have to wait and see though. We ought to finish patching her first.'_ He nodded, and the four of them proceeded to patch her up as best they could. Before long the big Blastoise entered the room, panting and gasping for air as he did so.

'_What happened?'_

"Half…" Bob gasped, "South…side…"

'_Relax'_ he noted that Bob was too tired to mentally project his thoughts, the big Blastoise must have really put a shift in. It had got up here in very little time at all. Bob nodded and sat down. It didn't take too long before it had regained its breath.

'_I was checking the Southern side of the mountain, say about half way down. Storm was coming in about 40 minutes or so. So I was thinking that I might start to head back up when I caught sight of that Sneasel gang, you know the ones that cause problems to trainers. I followed them to see where they were going. About five minutes later I saw this girl lying on the ground unconscious. They were about to attack until I revealed myself. Needless to say, they shat themselves massively.'_ A mischievous grin appeared on his face when he thought the last part.

'_You just chased them of right?'_

'_You could say that.' _Another grin appeared on his face.

'_I don't want to know.'_

'_How is she then?'_

'_Her physical injuries are not that bad; we just hope she hasn't suffered any head trauma.'_

'_Good, is Ok if I then…'_

'_Yeah go take a bath, you stinky shit.'_

'_Fuck you!' _Bob thought with a big grin on his face. Bob walked towards the back of the cavern and turned right into another room, where the hot springs were waiting for him. G knew they wouldn't see him for quite a long time, Bob loved his baths. He turned his attention back to the woman.

She was quite young probably the same age as him, maybe a little older, it was hard to tell. He placed a hand against her skin, she was cold. He found some blankets and a couple of hot water bottles and placed them next to her. He also placed his old small jacket on her. He had meant to throw away the old red and white jacket, it was too small for him now anyway. _'Well at least it has a use now'_ he thought to himself.

He returned to the table but kept his eyes on her, she was pretty he thought, but at the same time wondered what he would do with her. When they had found other injured people, C would take them back down the mountain and drop them near the Pokémon centre. But it would not be possible this time, the storm he knew from experience would rage on for at least another week. C could handle the weather easily but could she? The journey might be too much for her and who would come out to find her if they dropped her of. He thought about these things for quite some time, sharing his thoughts with the other four. They had decided upon that she didn't have to see Mewtwo; after all, hardly anyone knew of Mewtwo's existence, it was better for them that way. Their train of thoughts were interrupted when the door opened (dropping the temperature in the room a lot).

"What up homies? The C-Dwag is back in the crib. Y'all here me?"

'_Oh my God, G. He's was talking like that the whole time. Make him stop before I kill him!' _G smiled as first a Lucario and then a massive black dragon entered the room. The Charizard had to stoop slightly and fold its huge wings as it entered the room. The two of them were holding crates filled with supplies. Bob got up to greet the Charizard.

"Yo C-DWAAG! 'Ow is me Maaain Blud doin dis day? U look dizzy blud."

"UN-FUCKING-BELIEVABLE!" the Lucario dropped the crate and steamed into the room where the hot springs were, presumably to get a drink and bath.

'_So why are you talking like that?' G asked._

'_Bob and Pikka are right. It is fun to annoy Lucy.' _C smiled and the two of them started to unload the crates.

'_Hey Vee got a new book for you and Pikka got a part for the radio.'_ C tossed the items to them.

'_Thanks C, you're the best!'_

'_Yes this is the part that's missing, it'll definitely work know! Fuck!'_ A cloud of black smoke had engulfed Pikka as he had tried to turn the radio on. Vee laughed prompting another play fight between the two.

'_Hey Mewtwo!'_

'_Hmm' _Mewtwo looked up from the chess board, it had been formulating another plan.

'_Got some teabags!'_

'_Gimmie! Gimmie!' _They all laughed, even Mewtwo had a small grin on its face.

'_Told you, you had a drinking problem.'_

'_Shut up!'_

'_I seem to recall that I was the one who found the radio part.' _The Lucario had entered the room glaring at C, who tried not to meet her gaze. Bob answered her.

'_Well obviously it had to be you Lucy. I mean look at it, dam near blew Pikka to Kingdom come.'_ They all tried to suppress their sniggers. Bob grinned at Lucy who glared at him with daggers in her eyes.

'_Anyway who's she?' _she pointed to where the woman lay.

'_What the fuck?'_ C thought as he saw the woman on G's bed. They were quickly filled in by the others and also the problems of what to do with her. Silence filled the room for a while as they all struggled with the problem.

'_Guess we'll just have to wing it then.'_ C finally broke the silence.

'_Was that an intentional pun?' _Bob asked

'_Depends.'_

'_It was terrible if it was.'_

'_No then.'_ C quickly said bringing more laughter to the group.

The next coupe of days passed by, as though things were normal (the only thing that was different, was that G now slept in the hot spring room with Bob and C, under C's wing). Checking up on the woman had become part of the routine as well. She occasionally made a noise alerting everyone (Mewtwo turning itself invisible) to the possibility that she could wake up.

It was G's turn to check up on her this time. He enjoyed it, as it gave him an excuse to stare at her. He held her hand after checking her.

"She seems better" said Bob. G placed his hand on her forehead; it felt warmer than it had done previously.

"She feels warmer at least" he answered back. Mewtwo was helping Pikka with the radio stood up and also placed his hand on her forehead, to feel her increase in temperature. The woman then suddenly opened her eyes. Mewtwo did not have time to turn invisible. She saw Mewtwo.

'_Shit!'_

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**AN: As you might have figured out I use italics for thoughts. So I killed of Venusaur and Snorlax, I'm sorry, its just that I couldn't think of how to write them. Vee is based of Red's Espeon from the Manga, I gave Red Mewtwo again because of the manga. As to why Charizard is a shiny, well because Shiny Charizard is awesome, why a Lucario, no idea I just like the Pokemon. Finally why do they call Red 'G'? You'll find out later.**

**Also if you have any ideas for OC's please send me your suggestions, if I can wiggle them into the story I will defiantly give you a shout out and credit in the relevant chapter. **

**Anywho (anyone who gets that reference will get a shout out in the next chapter), Rate, Review and so on**

**Cheers**


	6. The Shadow or something more?

**An: I'm back with chapter six, I actually wrote most of this at work, I got really bored so just started writing down stuff. I found this chapter and chapter seven (which I am in the process of writing) much harder to write than the previous chapters. So I've actually written down a plan (basically a few chapter names) for the future, instead of just winging it as I go along. And I've already screwed that up, lol. Anyways back to the story!**

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She tried to back away from them but she let out a whimper of pain as she tried to move. Instinctively she tried to find her Pokéballs (using her left arm as her right was in too much pain), there weren't there. She worried where were her best friends? She was alone and defenceless.

She scanned her surroundings taking in a lot as her adrenaline was pumping. The creature with the menacing purple eyes had jumped back, away from her almost as soon as she had opened her eyes. It was tall, easily above the six foot mark and seemed as though it stood on its toes. Its whole body was white-grey and it had a long purple tail. It only had three fingers on its hands and tips of them were bloated and spherical, it also had small protrusions on either side on its head. To its left was a Pokémon, a Lucario. It stood in a battle position, angry eyes staring straight at her, seemingly about to attack at a moments notice. She noted that the centre spike was not quite right, perhaps damaged earlier and on its way to mending.

To the creature with purple eyes right stood two other Pokémon. A Pikachu and an Eevee. The Eevee looked like any other normal Eevee but the top of its left ear seemed spiky. The striking feature of the Pikachu was that it was wearing a brown or red cap (she couldn't tell which colour) and it was holding some sort of mechanical device in its hands. The two small Pokémon looked curiously at her, as though they were not sure what to make of her.

As she scanned right, she saw a Blastoise sitting in front of what looked like the exit. Its cannons were sheathed and it had a grin on its face, seemingly finding the situation amusing. It had a few scars on its face and a few dents in its shell. It had muscular arms and legs; she could tell that it could easily rip her apart. Finally she covered the opposite side of the room. A Charizard stood there; she had not a seen a more impressive specimen. It was as black as night with blood red eyes; a prominent scar over its right one A wingspan the like of which she had never seen before, the inside of its wings crimson to go with its eyes. It claws were sharp and shiny but it was the flame on the tip of its tail that impressed her the most. Electric blue with highlights of white. That was surely impossible she thought. The Charizard seemed to split its attention between her and bundle on the floor, its left hand covering it.

She looked at it closer and realised it was a man. He had jet black hair, unkept, spiking all over the place. There was also a small untidy beard to go with the hair. He wore a black vest and blue jeans which were ripped and shredded in many places and seemed as bit too small for him. He had black fingerless gloves on and what seemed like a silver bracelet on his left wrist; while round his neck was a small silver chain connected to which; was what looked like a brown shard of glass. She couldn't tell his exact size, but he seemed to be a bit taller than her, around the five foot seven or eight mark. He was skinny but lean and like some of his Pokémon he was also scared. His forearms were littered with them, while he had two small ones on his left cheek and seemed to be missing bits of his left ear. She tried to get a look of his eyes, but he averted her gaze.

She noticed that were all silent, not once making a noise. The only thing that she heard was the wind raging on outside. But they seemed to move their heads to one another, as though talking to each other without actually talking.

* * *

There had been a small commotion when she woke up. Mewtwo jumped back immediately, while C's protective instincts kicked in, grapping and pulling G away; shielding him from any danger that might occur. Lucy had assumed battle position waiting for the woman to give any cause to attack, Bob moved slightly towards the exit so as to block it while Pikka and Vee moved closer; their curiosity getting the better of them.

'_Dude she's awake!'_

'_Way to point the obvious Pikka.'_

'_Shut up Vee! Why didn't you go invisible mate?'_

'_I.. I didn't have time… Plus it could have scared her more into doing something.'_

'_Like what?'_

'_It does not matter now. What matters is what we do now. I say we get rid of her.' _Lucy piped in.

'_No Lucy we are not killers.'_ C replied.

'_Maybe we wing it?' _a grin appearing on Bob's face

'_Shut up Bob!'_

G remained silent and still, watching the woman, studying her movements. She seemed scared of them. She had tried to back away but was unable to. Most likely due to her injuries he thought. She had made a motion with her good arm, what for he could not tell. He noticed that she had scanned them, looking them all up and down. When she got to him, he felt embarrassed, he hadn't exactly kept himself as well as he could have; he did everything he could not to not meet her gaze or to blush. He stole a quick look at her eyes. They were grey but were fiery; she was a person who tackled things straight on, determined not to let fear overcome her. Yet there was more. They hid something. Pain, sadness and anger. Great anger. Not at them he realised; something long ago.

He was unsure what to do next. It had been a long time since he had interacted with another human. He got up and walked over to their makeshift bookshelf, feeling her eyes on him the whole time. He picked up six Pokéballs, placing them on the bed.

"My Pokémon?" she asked, becoming less afraid it seemed. He nodded and walked over to the table. There was a plate with slices of bread on it. They were from a meal earlier that day, but he thought they should still suffice. He took the plate and walked back to the bed. He tried to tell her to take one, but no words came to him so instead he crouched down (so that he was on the same level as she was), bringing the plate in reach of her. She was hesitant, not trusting him yet. He took the top slice and began to eat it. He was nearly finished when she finally took one, rapidly eating it, clearly she was hungry. He placed the plate in reach of her good arm before walking back to the table sitting down at it.

'_Chill. Act normal, just do what you were doing before.'_

* * *

As he sat down at the table, all the Pokémon (she had decided that the creature with purple eyes had to be a Pokémon) moved towards the table as well. The Eevee and Pikachu jumped up onto the table, the Charizard and Blastoise on a seat either side of the man and the unknown Pokémon opposite him. The Lucario was standing near the table, still facing her.

She considered sending out the Pokémon but decided against it. Who knew how strong this mystery man and these Pokémon were._ 'Maybe not exactly a mystery man.'_ She wondered if he was really the one people called the Shadow of Mt Silver. There was a Blastoise just as Lance had said and the Charizard could possibly the thing that grabs trainers, drop them off at the foot of the mountain and disappear in a flash of black. Her stomach rumbled so she decided to finish of the plate of bread. They were cold and a bit tasteless but it was better than nothing at all.

After she had finished she took stock of her surroundings. She was on a bed and had quite a few blankets over her. Next to the bed on the left was a strange rock formation that allowed books to sit on it at different levels, it was not natural she realised as it was too much of a coincidence for it to be the perfect size to hold books. The table was right at the back of the room, and had five chairs of varying height all of which had the look of being home made. There also seemed to be another room (the entrance being on the opposite wall to where she was) near the table, what was inside she could not see. Opposite her directly was a much longer and wider mattress with a blanket on it as well. To the mattress's left was what looked like a small cot and to its right were two basket-like objects, all three things having their own blankets.

Next she tried to figure what was wrong with her. She had figured out that her right arm was broken or fractured, finding that she could move a bit, she thought that had only fractured it. She felt the bandage around her head and a rather large lump as well, She next tried to reach her right leg but winced in pain as she brushed a couple of ribs.

"You fell." The man walked over to her. His voice was soft, barley audible, if the storm outside had been any louder she wouldn't have heard him at all.

"Fracture… These two are cracked….. You have lots cuts here…." He said while pointing to her upper arm, two lower ribs and her right legs respectively. She took in the information but it was his voice that she was most interested in. He struggled to get his words out in the first place; it wasn't a stutter, more like he was unsure what to say. The more he said the softer and quieter it became; it was gentle but at the same time it was cold and distant. She stared into his face finally catching his gaze. His eyes were deep drown with what could swear was a tint of crimson. She'd seen those eyes before. Could it be?

She recalled his picture at Indigo Plateau. The skin was slightly paler than that of the photo (probably due to living up on a mountain she thought). The hair longer and untidier and there was the beard, the scars could easily have come from the hazards of living up here, but they seemed very old, some too old and too serious to just be from the mountain. There was a Pikachu and Blastoise and Professor Oak had said that the Charmander was an interesting specimen, the Charizard here being the most impressive she'd ever seen. The cap the Pikachu was wearing seemed red; it could be his famous cap, the colour perhaps fading away. But where were the Venusaur and Snorlax? Instead there were a Lucario, Eevee and an unknown Pokémon. Yet those eyes looked too similar.

"Uhm… We'll … when the storm stops…and when you…your arm and leg….. drop you back…" he said to her awkwardly, motioning with his arms, before turning back to the table.

"Hey Mr.. Uhm… Shadow…" She was unsure why she had called him that, for some reason she did not want to say Red as she just wasn't certain just yet. Shadow seemed right at the time, after all that was the name the locals at Silver Town had given him. He stopped and half turned his head, for a second she thought she saw him change his facial expression before it returned to normal.

* * *

'_Guys who's she talking about?' _ G had asked everyone.

'_You! You Idiot! It's not like she's expecting us to speak to her is she!'_ He turned to face her again, ignoring Bob's laugh at his dispense. He nodded at her to go on.

He seemed to take a bit long to respond to the name she thought, she knew it couldn't be his name but still thought it odd that he didn't respond straight away. That wasn't important now; she needed to take care of her closet friends.

"Could you check if my Pokémon are Ok? And heal them up possibly?"

This shocked him at first, though he did not show it. Most trainers would concern themselves about their well being more before turning their attention to their Pokémon. Especially seeing the predicament that she was in. She was a good trainer, perhaps not among the strongest; she had gotten herself into this mess after all, but a caring one no the less; which in his mind was far more important than trying to become strong and neglecting the caring side. He nodded at her and then at Vee, who hurriedly fetched the med kit.

She tried to reach her Pokéballs but she couldn't get her left arm close enough. He was about to ask for her permission to release her Pokémon but he couldn't find the words. It was not that he didn't know what he wanted to say or that he didn't want to say them, he was nervous some reason. Instead he motioned with his hands, she nodded clearly understanding him.

The first Pokémon that he released was one he had seen a few times when he was in Sinnoh many about six years ago, a long serpentine Pokémon; if he remembered correctly it was a water type. It seemed apprehensive at first, even more so after seeing its trainer in pain. But he had a natural gift with Pokémon; he petted it, murmuring soft words of comfort. It relaxed. He noticed that it did not seem too badly hurt, but he might as well give it something. He took the med kit from Vee, pulling out some medicine.

"Home made" he said after seeing the woman's confused look. They had run out of man made medicines about two years ago but after combing all across the mountain they had found some unusual plants which in certain combinations worked even better.

'_Dude, that's a Milltic right?' _Pikka Pokémon had stopped what they were doing to observe the newcomer; it was odd for them to see Pokémon that were not native to either Kanto or Johto.

'_No quite, it's a Milotic, it's native to Hoenn.' _ Lucy replied. He looked at the woman; before moving his head and eyes to what he believed be the Milotic, returning his look back at her. She seemed to understand as she answered him.

"That's Milotic, she's a water type Pokémon." He nodded at the confirmation, turning his attention to Milotic. He petted it and said more soothing words before it spoke to him.

'_It said thank you right?' _he asked all of them. He was unfamiliar with the dialect, so he couldn't quite make everything out.

'_Yeah, she would also like to know what happened to her trainer_.' Bob replied. He leaned in close to the Milotic and told her what had happened and that they were going to take care of her trainer. She seemed happy enough so he returned her to her Pokéball and released the next one. He did not recognise the next one, but from its appearance he presumed it was a ghost type Pokémon.

'_Lucy?'_

'_I think it's a Spirit… Spirit something. I'm sorry G… I can't remember… I…'_ she looked slightly desponded.

'_Don't worry about it, you're doing better than the rest of us.' _ She used to have a huge fear of failure and though they had worked through that she still got a bit upset when things went slightly wrong. Again he made it fell relaxed around him and gave it some more medicine, he asked the woman again with a look, learning it was a Spiritomb, and a ghost/dark type. No weaknesses he realised, pretty handy he thought. The process continued with Roserade and Togekiss following suit. He was beginning to think that she was probably from Sinnoh as her Pokémon all came from that region.

'_Oh wow! He's….' _Lucy thought as a Lucario was realised. She'd stop herself mid sentence but he could tell that she was embarrassed.

'_He's what Lucy?' _Bob mischievously asked.

'_Ahh young love.'_ Pikka added.

'_Lucy and the new guy sitting in the tree, doing what they shouldn't be.' _Vee teased.

'_Oh Lucy. I thought you tried to represent yourself as a, uhm in your words, a Mother Fucking Badass! With all that girl power attitude and so on. Yet here we find you blindly falling in love over a guy you just met, shame on you!'_

'_How am I supposed to follow that!' _C asked before grinning at G. He returned it, exchanging knowing nods.

'_I think we've teased her enough now anyway. Plus we don't want to here any of G's crappy unfunny stuff.'_

'_Just cos you couldn't think of anything C.' _Bob remarked; laughing.

'_Shut up.'_ G returned to treating the Pokémon, they were stronger than he had expected them to be. He had underestimated her before. The last Pokémon that he treated was a Garchomp, a ground/dragon type he learned. It was quite hurt from what he assumed was the journey up here, but it was immensely strong he could tell. It couldn't challenge any of them but still stronger that any other non-legendary Pokémon he had encountered. She was a very good trainer it turned out.

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**AN: So there you are. Rate, review, subscribe, you know the usual. For those of you who are interested, 'Anywho' was a My Wife and Kids reference. So anyway 92 out. And I forgot to mention that I do not own Pokemon**

**Cheers! **


	7. Routine

**AN: So I was writing this while watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics, and was surprised at how I was able to multitask between the two, anyways if you're not watching the ceremony, please do read and hopefully enjoy. Oh, before I forget, I do not own Pokemon in way shape or form.**

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As she waited for the storm to die down outside and for her body to heal, Cynthia noticed their routine. She would wake up later than everyone else; they would then have breakfast together, usually some bread with baked beans and occasionally a fried egg and sausages. After they had finished he left the room with five of his Pokémon leaving one behind in the room. (She was surprised that they went out in this weather, even though she was in this cavern, she could still hear the winds blowing fast, faster than she had ever experienced and the temperature drop every time the door opened was massive) Every hour one Pokémon would come back to the room and the one previously in the room would leave. This would continue until around lunch time when all would return bar one (sometimes a Pokémon, sometimes he would be the one who would not come). They then had lunch before the one was not here before came back and another left. After another hour, all but one again left.

The pattern of one Pokémon in the room for an hour returned and continued until some time in the evening, (she was unsure exactly what time as her watch had broken) when they all returned to the little cave. They would then split into two groups, one went into the other room while the other had dinner, after a while they would swap. After both groups had been in the other room, most of them participated in group activities like cards or individual activities like reading (she was astonished that they were able to read when she first saw it). He would always come over to her and check how she was doing, making sure that her arm, ribs and leg were healing. The odd thing that she noticed when all the Pokémon were all together was that they would barely speak at all. They would laugh a lot and let out the occasionally sigh or scream, but they didn't converse mush at all, instead leaning their heads to look at one another. They were talking somehow without using words at all.

She had initially spent the time that she had to herself to explore the rest of the cave. The other room she had found explained why the whole cave was warm. There were two large hot springs in the room, causing a sauna like feel in the room. She also found a smaller room connected to it which was full of supplies and another opening that was seemingly blocked of by stones and boulders. She wondered why it was blocked of, what could possibly be in that room.

As the days wore on she took more notice more about his Pokémon. The Pikachu would always run into and out of the room, immediately donning the cap as soon as it entered and leaving it behind when it left. It ran around a lot and seemed to enjoy poking and annoying everyone else, its favourite place being on his shoulder poking his face (he did not seem to mind). When it was not running about it was trying to fix what looked like a radio. It wasn't doing a good job she thought and small explosions would come from it every so often. The Eevee was the complete opposite to the Pikachu; it was very calm and didn't make much if any noise, although it seemed to laugh whenever an explosion took place. It would read the most out and snuggled into his lap when it did so.

The Lucario was very stiff; it laughed the least out of the group, played fewer games and seemingly exercised the most. It was consistently doing some kind of exercise in the room, being it push-ups or lifting rocks around. It also seemed to be annoyed at the Blastoise most of the time. The Blastoise seemed to be the joker of the group, as it laughed the most and did quite a lot of entertaining, it imitated all of the others, making fun of them and itself a lot of the time. Also it seemed to take a lot of time in the hot-spring room. _'Makes sense that a water type would spend a lot of time she thought.'_

The last two Pokémon were the hardest to read. The Pokémon she did not know would wear a brown cloak whenever it went outside and took a thermos flask almost everywhere it went. It constantly drank tea it seemed, it played chess a lot with the others, always winning. On the occasions that it wasn't doing these two things it polished some metallic looking objects which looked like some kind of body armour. It hardly made a sound but when it did (mainly to laugh), it sounded almost human. She saw the Charizard the least, it was only ever in the room for breakfast, lunch and when everyone had gathered in the evening. It was difficult to read its behaviour; sometimes it would be very social, participating in many of the games, acting like the big brother to everyone else. Other times it would be silent and still, only its trainer keeping it for company.

Or was it the other way round? He was the biggest mystery out of the group. He had shaved and tried to tidy his hair after the first day (it made him look younger, he could be younger than her) but he still hardly made any noise. Making the most when he talked to her, even then hardly saying anything. When the rest of them laughed, he would just smile. His face hardly deviated in expression; he was statuesque, sometimes sitting alone with just the Charizard. He was the hardest to read.

One day, just as everyone got back she decided she wanted to take a bath in the hot-springs.

"Hey is it cool if I take a bath in the hot springs?" she asked him. He simply nodded before going to get a towel for her. She took it and went into the room. She released her Pokémon before she stripped her clothes of gingerly; her ribs and arm still giving her pain. She got into one of hot springs and Roserade, Milotic and Togekiss got into another. Lucario and Garchomp just dipped their feat in, not liking the water much. It was heaven to her. The warmth filling her, making her pains disappear. She spent a long time in there before she finally left.

"Thanks" she said as re-entered the main room. He simply nodded before Charizard, Blastoise and he went into the hot-spring room.

"Oh wait. What do I do with the towel?" she gasped as she went back into the hot-spring room. He had taken of his clothes and was about to get into one of the hot springs. He quickly tried to cover himself up but she had seen everything already. They both blushed as she turned away, the Blastoise laughing manically in the background, the Charizard making rough snorts, telling her to get out. She dropped the towel on the floor before quickly leaving. The image remained in her mind. Although seeing his dick shocked her, she also was astonished at the amount of scars he had. He was riddled with them, you'd he hard pressed to find an area of skin that didn't have one.

For the next few days he was quieter than usual and would not meet her gaze at all, the Blastoise snickered a lot and it seemed to base a lot of its imitations on him trying to cover himself up. More days passed until finally the storm died down enough and her body had recovered sufficiently for them to drop her of.

"Ready?" he asked.

"Wait. Before I go can I battle you?" His Pokémon seemed interested by this more so than he did; his expression hardly changed much but by now she could spot the faint lines in his face that he was indicated that he was thinking it over. He nodded accepting the challenge. He motioned to Pikachu, Lucario and Blastoise, fetching three Pokéballs as he did so. He returned the Lucario and Blastoise to their Pokéballs before pulling on his black hoodie, drawing up the hood and then leaving the cave along with the Pikachu, Eevee, Charizard and the unknown Pokémon. She followed quickly behind him. As soon as they got outside the Eevee raced of down a path, the Pikachu jumped up onto his shoulder while the unknown Pokémon disappeared. She froze instantly, as the cold temperature hit her, she hugged herself trying to feed warmth back into her body. The winds were faster and fiercer than anything she had ever felt and snow fell down upon them instantly covering their footsteps.

The Charizard stooped down and he motioned for her to get on, she climbed on before he himself got on behind her. She held on tight as the great lizard suddenly took of at unimaginably fast speed. It wasn't phased by the weather at all, laughing in Mother Nature's fury. These conditions seemed too easy for it as it raced in no time at all to the peak of the mountain. They got of. To her horror the weather was even worse up, the winds now blew at such a pace and strength that she could barley keep herself upright. She was shuddering from the sheer cold up here; it felt as though every single bone in her body had been frozen solid. Snow and hail pelted down, seemingly trying to beat them down into submission.

The Charizard took of again, going higher still and in a few seconds it was lost from her view. She looked over at him. He was unfazed by this climate; calmly walking over to the other side of the peak as though it was just like any other day for him; Pikachu still perched on its shoulder. As he reached the other side he turned to face her, Pikachu leaping of his shoulder. It yellow fur was in stark contrast to the white surroundings, electricity crackled with power from its bright red cheeks.

It was then that she realised that he only had three Pokémon on him. He intended to battle her full healthy team with only half, it was not like he only had three to choose from either, why did he not call up the other three Pokémon that he had? She remembered that he had beaten Lance's legendary team of dragons with only his Blastoise but surely that was because the Blastoise would know ice attacks and thus could sweep Lance easier. It was placing a huge amount of faith in three that he had. Did he really believe he could beat her that easily? She contemplated starting with Garchomp, it would be immune to Pikachu's electric attacks, but she opted against it; she would save Garchomp for the end.

"Roserade! Battle Dance!" Roserade would have the type advantage against Pikachu but the conditions would also count against it. He remained silent and still, not motioning, uttering no commands to his Pokémon. It unsettled her slightly; she had never come across anything like it. She could now see how he had got the name of Shadow. He didn't seem human, yet he wasn't a ghost, something in between, shadow fit him perfectly.

"Sludge Bomb" she had to yell over the wind. Roserade shot brown and purple blobs of sludge in the direction of Pikachu; it was about to make contact with it before all of a sudden there was nothing but air. A flash of yellow crashed into Roserade sending it flying of. Roserade fainted instantly such was the force and speed that Pikachu hit Roserade. She couldn't believe it; she had never seen anything move so fast and had so much power. Never had one of her Pokémon been knocked out it just one hit. She stared at him; he hadn't made a sound or even moved as far as she could tell.

"Pika!" The Pikachu grinned at her, standing on its hind legs it fist pumped at its victory before returning back to its starting position. She grimaced, how on earth could she possibly compete with that kind of speed and power? Should she send out Garchomp now? Both Milotic and Togekiss would be very vulnerable. No not yet just yet.

"Spiritomb" It was a risk, Spiritomb's low speed would be a disadvantage and she doubted she could out power Pikachu either, she had to somehow negate Pikachu's movement.

"Dark Pulse!" A ball of purple circles appeared in front of Spiritomb's mouth before it fired a beam of purple circles right at Pikachu. She saw the flash of yellow again, just how she had predicted.

"Rock Tomb, around yourself" Giant rocks protruded from the ground all around Spiritomb. The rocks would prevent its movement but it would protect it from Pikachu's Volt Tackle.

"As soon as it stops use Psychic" She expected Pikachu to stop just before it reached the rocks so that it would not damage itself, then she would strike back. She gasped as Pikachu didn't stop, instead ploughing straight the rocks, smashing them to pieces before smashing straight into Spiritomb, who again instantly fainted from the attack. '_No fucking way'_ was all that she could think. Pikachu looked perfectly fine; you couldn't tell that it had smashed some huge rocks into fine dust as though it was nothing with just its body rushing into them. Two attacks, two KO's, no fuss, she was in danger of being swept she realised. She looked back at him. No change, silent and still as ever.

"Lucario. Aura Sphere" Lucario appeared and instantly fired of a blue sphere a energy, Pikachu could not dodge, finally an attack hit but she grimaced again as she saw Pikachu shrug of the attack easily, not seeming too bothered at all by the attack. She saw the flash as it disappeared, another Volt Tackle on its way.

"Quick Bone rush the ground as you jump" A blue staff appeared in Lucario's hands and it smashed it against the ground and jumped at the same time, gaining extra height as it did so. The Pikachu stopped in its tracks; she had stopped the onslaught at last. Now to go on the offensive.

"Fire of as many Aura Sphere's as you can while you drop Lucario." Lucario fired many blue balls of energy at Pikachu only to see them all dissipate away when Pikachu fried them away with an enormous Thunderbolt. The attack consumed Lucario as it fell back to earth. She heard it cry out it pain for a few seconds before it hit the ground with a thud. Lucario wasn't getting up any time soon. She returned Lucario apologising to it. Half her team were down in hardly any time at all, it was now a three on three battle, they were on even turns already and the way things were going it would be all over very quickly. She looked back up at him, finally he made some movement, he nodded and his mouth made a half smile. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again, deciding against it. Now it was time for Garchomp, she would make sure she knocked out at least one of his Pokémon.

"Garchomp battle dance" she said confidently. Pikachu's electric attacks would not do a thing to her.

"Garchomp Dragon Rush" Garchomp flew at Pikachu, the two appendages on its head glowed light blue before its whole body became enveloped by the aura. It missed as Pikachu easily evaded the attack.

"Dragon Claw" Garchomp's claws turned light green and she rushed towards Pikachu only to miss once again. She frowned as Pikachu smiled and chirped not even bothering to attack, she knew what it was trying to do. They were trying to tire out Garchomp knowing that Pikachu's attacks would be ineffectual against Garchomp.

"Garchomp return." Garchomp was enveloped by red light as it was recalled back into its Pokéball. She figured out, that at this rate Garchomp would easily tire out before Pikachu. Somehow she needed to tire out Pikachu more so that it couldn't dodge Garchomp's attack.

"Milotic. Blizzard" Milotic emerged from her Pokéball and immediately sent an icy wind filled with snowballs, hail and ice shards straight at Pikachu. The yellow flash appeared again as Pikachu ran straight through the blizzard, not even slowing down in the face of the wind before nailing Milotic with a super effective attack, once again knocking her Pokémon in one hit. She frowned as she returned Milotic, her plan had been to spam blizzard at Pikachu hoping that the wind combined with the ice, snow and hail would prevent Pikachu from running at full force towards Milotic.

"Togekiss your turn" She knew that one hit from Pikachu's Thunderbolt would knock Togekiss out hopefully her plan of hit and run would be enough to tire Pikachu out.

"Aura Sphere and then Air Slash the sphere and then move Togekiss." Togekiss let out a blue ball energy right at Pikachu before it gathered a ball of wind in one of its wings sending it at the blue aura ball; the resulting collision formed a larger ball of blue energy which was heading straight at Pikachu. Even with the greater energy output all it still only took one Thunderbolt to completely dissipate it. Togekiss barely dodged the thunder that returned towards it.

"Keep repeating this Togekiss" The pattern continued but each Thunderbolt kept getting closer, most of Togekiss' energy was being spent on dodging, and now a few attacks scraped her wings. Cynthia grimaced again, she was running out of time and Pikachu still looked at perfectly fine. A shriek of pain told her that her time had run out, Togekiss hit the ground already fainted. She recalled Togekiss apologising again that she couldn't think of a better strategy.

"Garchomp it's up to you!" she recalled Garchomp again for a repeat performance.

"Dig" she cried, as Garchomp quickly dug underground. Pikachu remained still; it closed its eyes, twitching its ears. She wasn't sure what it was doing until it suddenly moved; jumping away just as Garchomp emerged from the ground, dodging the attack before swilling around and smacking Garchomp in head with a powerful Iron Tail. Garchomp fell down to the ground, barely able to get up after the attack.

"Pika Pi?" Pikachu looked surprised and looked back at the stoic man. She also looked up at him. He was still silent and still but he had small smile on his face. A smile of amusement or wonderment, she couldn't tell, but it seemed as though he had expected Garchomp to be knocked out in one hit just like the rest. He nodded at Pikachu and it nodded back, setting of at Garchomp and hitting another Iron Tail knocking it out.

She recalled Garchomp. It was over. She'd lost, her first ever loss. It was a crushing loss; she fell to her knees in despair, it wasn't even a challenge more like a routine training session for him. She couldn't believe what had happened, she barely noticed him as he walked towards her. Pikachu once again perched on his shoulder. He knelt down beside her.

"You're good" he said gently, "I can't remember the last time I battled someone as strong as you." He continued. It was the most he had ever said to her in one go. She heard the sincerity in his voice. He'd meant what he had said. She looked up and stared into those deep brown eyes, this time defiantly making out the crimson in them. A tear was falling down her cheek; he gently brushed it away and leaned in closer. She felt her heart race faster, as he stared back at her. He broke away and stood up as the Charizard landed.

"He'll take you back." He said motioning at Charizard, who leaned down for her to get on. She hoped on and before she had a chance to look back to say goodbye, they took of and dive bombed down the side of the mountain, she had to grip on tight as they flew down at incredible speed, slowing down just before they reached the bottom. He took her just in sight of the Pokémon centre before touching down and letting her get of.

"Thank you and everyone for everything you've done for me" she said. The Charizard nodded back before taking of again. It only took a few moments before it disappeared from sight.

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**AN: All right, I expecting this chapter to be a bit shit to be honest, but I think it's pretty good. But it's not my view that counts. Its yours. So rate and review please!**


	8. Family Reunion

**AN: Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 8. This is will probably be the last update for this weekend, picking up family at Heathrow tomorrow (I'll try and right one in the morning). But first a quick reply to some of your reviews.**

**AnisoulJ93, I can remember watching beyblade a long time ago, but my memory is a bit shit was Ray the one with the tiger bit beast?**

**Serenity and Chaos, I don't really understand what you mean (in you review of chapter 5) could you explain further please?**

**But now back to the story! And a quick disclaimer, I don't own Pokemon.**

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Her plan had originally been to travel back to Pallet Town, talk to Professor Oak, and confirm whether or not Red was the Shadow of Mt Silver. But these plans were ruined by the media. She was just about to leave Silver Town when they found her, in just a few minutes she was mobbed; she could barely walk in a straight line such was the mass of reporters surrounding her. It had been a massive few days for them it turned out, her disappearance had been the hot news topic, and now that she had retuned the story had got even bigger. It was even more evident when she finally got to Viridian, her face was on every newspaper she could see, and she could swear she was in almost every program that was on TV.

"Cynthia, where were you?"

"Cynthia, what happened?"

"Cynthia, will this affect your champion status?"

All she ever heard were these same questions over and over again. At first she had tried to ignore them, hoping the interest would die down. It didn't. If anything it got even worse, they wouldn't let get grab a moments breath. Eventually she caved in.

"I had a small accident on Mt Silver" she answered to the questions posed to her. She hoped that they would leave her alone after this, but no. The scrutiny intensified. And yet more questions were asked.

"What were you doing on Mt Silver Cynthia?"

"What kind of accident Cynthia?"

"Has this affected you in any way Cynthia?" She was getting very frustrated with them by now. She answered their questions hoping that this time they would leave her be.

"I was climbing Mt Silver doing a bit of training. A friend had told me strong Pokémon lived there. I had a small slip and a big storm was coming in so I had to take shelter. That's it. Now please no more questions." But there was to be one final question from one reporter.

"Cynthia did you see or fight the Shadow of Mt Silver?" Almost all the other reporters laughed at this lone reporter, saying that the Shadow was preposterous rumour and fantasy. They had expected her to say no immediately. They were a bit taken aback by her lengthy pause.

Internally Cynthia was fighting with herself about what answer to give. On one hand, the truth bit at her, she had seen and fought the Shadow, losing badly in the process. She had already lied about her accident and telling another lie would make it harder for her to keep to her story if they dug deeper. But on the other hand, telling the truth would result in confirmation that the Shadow actually exists, which would result in more people trying to scale that mountain, which in turn could result in more in more accidents, possibly even fatalities. Also on a personal level, she thought that he probably would not be happy with more people finding him and battling (_'and losing to'_ she thought) him. He would find it hard to forgive her if she did that she thought.

"No, I didn't see or fight him." She said finally.

"Him? I pretty sure the Shadow's gender was unknown?" _'Crap!'_ She'd slipped up. Hastily she tried to think of something that would get her out of this spot, at the same time trying with all her might not to blush.

"Well from what I hear from most of the stories, the Shadow is supposedly a man. And now I really must go." It was feeble she knew but it was the only thing that she could think of. Hurriedly she fled to her room, she needed to get back to Sinnoh as quickly as possible, she needed to get back home. And so she decided to get the earliest possible ferry back.

She was lucky that she only had to wait a few days for the next ferry to ship her back to Sinnoh. As they departed, she found herself on the upper deck looking back at Kanto. She stared back, Vermilion was quite a sight, even this early in the morning it was busy with smaller ships coming and going from the port. But she focused more on the horizon. The top of Mt Silver still loomed large, the storm at the top was only just visible now, but every so often she would see a flash lightning. Was it legitimately caused by the storm or was it from that powerful Pikachu?

Her mind wondered to that mysterious man who lived up there. She wondered what he was up to. Probably eating breakfast she thought, maybe he had left the cave already. Even after spending that time with him, she still knew hardly anything about him. There were many questions that she had. Why and what was he doing up there? Why had he shunned all contact with the rest of the world? And most importantly is he really Red? Professor Oak could have answered her questions but she couldn't ask him now. There was however another way to find out whether or not he really was Red. She grimaced as she thought about that option. It filled her with anger, thrusting away all the curiosity she had in her mind. _'NO! I swore never to see him again!'_ she thought to herself. If the Shadow was Red or not would have to wait until she returned to Kanto.

The journey back was uneventful; most of the travellers were businessmen and left her to herself. There were a few trainers on board as well, some were too afraid to talk to her while others challenged her, confidently thinking they would have a chance. It raised her spirits as she beat them easily. It rebuilt her confidence after being crushed by Shadow and the thrill of battle always made her feel better. But her high spirits were dampened as soon as she had arrived.

The media greeted her. She was barely able to get of the boat as they blocked her path sticking microphones in her face. There were flashes of light from all directions as pictures were taken from her. The same questions were asked of her along with some new ones.

"How does it feel to be back home Cynthia?"

"Cynthia what do you say to the rumours that you had an affair with Lance?"

'_Shit! Shit! Shit!'_ was all that she could think of. She had hoping that they would not find out what ferry she was on, and such she would have a relatively quiet journey back home to Celestic Town. She tried to move forward, but struggled against the huge mass of people blocking her path. She looked around, desperately trying to find an opening, until she saw a familiar face. A young woman with short brown hair with matching brown eyes, wearing a green top, long brown shorts and green boots was smiling at her. Gardenia pushed through the crowd of reporters, grabbing Cynthia's hand, and pulled her out towards a waiting car. Cynthia gratefully and quickly got in the passengers' side.

"Drive." Gardenia nodded. And they drove of, quickly leaving the group of reporters behind.

"Where to?" Gardenia asked.

"Home" Gardenia nodded again, before taking a turn in the road. Gardenia was oddly quiet during the journey Cynthia noticed, but at the same time she could tell that Gardenia was bursting to ask her about her trip.

"So? Spill!" Cynthia smiled as Gardenia finally asked her. She retold her tale, from all the meetings and press conferences at the Indigo Plateau, the first time she saw Mt Silver, her talk with Lance about the Shadow, her subsequent decision to talk with Professor Oak about the Shadow (though she failed to mention her talk with the Professor about Red, or anything about Red for that matter), the climb itself; before stopping after she had got to her fall.

"Then?" her friend asked eagerly. She frowned slightly, she didn't want to lie to Gardenia but then again she didn't want to say too much either.

"Well I was knocked unconscious from the fall. Next thing I know, I'm in a cave with a guy sitting near me."

"So the Shadow is real then?"

"Yeah, he looked after me while a really big storm blew over; I had cracked ribs and a small fracture in my right arm. I need to get those checked out actually."

"Go on."

"Well, days went by as I recovered and the storm subsided. Just before it was time for me to go, I challenged him to a battle."

"Then?"

"I lost."

"No way!"

"I was crushed actually; he knocked out all my Pokémon with just his Pikachu."

"But…?"

"He is the most incredible trainer I've ever seen; the raw power was….. Breathtaking."

"So… who is he?"

"I…I don't know, he never gave his name." The rest of the journey was filled with Gardenia telling her about all that had happened in Sinnoh while she had been away, there was not much interesting, just some gossip and some cursing about Flint and Volkner. Cynthia didn't pay much attention, her mind still on the man that lived on the mountain. Her curiosity was nagging at her again.

They finally arrived at a house in Celestic Town. She got out and was immediately greeted by an elderly couple and a young girl. Her grandparents and her younger sister. Her younger sister ran straight up to her and hugged her tightly, she looked just like a miniature version of Cynthia but instead of grey eyes, she had turquoise eyes. Her grandparents were a bit more sedate with their greetings but still hugged her a lot. Her grandmother was quite a bit shorter than Cynthia while her grandfather was a touch taller. Both of them had grey hair while her grandmother had grey eyes exactly like Cynthia, her grandfather had turquoise just like her sister.

"Well I'll be of then" Gardenia said.

"You should come in for some tea." Cynthia's grandmother replied.

"No, I'm been away from the gym for too long already, thank you though."

"Thanks for the lift Gardenia."

"Any time Cynthia." And with that she got back in her car and drove of. Cynthia followed her family inside the house where she was lead to the dining room. She was immediately offered food, which she gratefully accepted. After finishing they talked.

"So care to tell us what the hell happened?" her grandmother asked.

"Carla, Fredrick and I were scared to our wits ends when we saw the news." Cynthia told them her story, once again leaving out her talk about Red with Professor Oak.

"You could have died Cynthia! Why didn't you take better care of yourself?"

"Calm down Carolina. I'm sure Cynthia thought at the time she had taken the necessary precautions, she has after all travelled through some notoriously harsh places before." She was grateful to her grandfather; she was not looking forward to the dressing down that her grandmother was about to give her. She leaned in closer to her grandfather, kissing him on the forehead.

"Thanks, I owe you one." She whispered in his ear.

"Just take better care of yourself next time, for me." He whispered back, winking as he did so.

"If that's all then, I'll take a shower before hitting the sack." Cynthia got up, grinning as her grandmother scowled (she clearly wanted to say more on the subject). She climbed the stairs to her bedroom where she stripped of and got in the shower. After showering and getting into her pyjamas, she re-entered her room to find her sister waiting for her.

"I missed you."

"I missed you to Carla." They hugged each other before they sat facing each other on her bed.

"I can't believe you lost!"

"Neither could I at first."

"Bit you're like unbeatable. You're the best in the world! You're the hero of Sinnoh!"

"Haha, I love you Carla, I reckon Lance or Steven could give me a good battle. But all of us are no where near his league."

"So who is he then?"

"I don't really know, he didn't speak much the whole time we were up there and I didn't ask for his name."

"That was stupid of you."

"Shut up!"

"You must have some idea of who he was though?"

"I have a hunch, but that's all."

"Spill"

"No, I don't want it to get out."

"Come on, I've always kept your secrets. Remember that time when I caught you kissing that Justin guy."

"I paid you like a half years worth of savings to keep that quiet."

"Hehehe, oh yeah. But c'mon, pretty please?" her sister pouted at her adorably.

"Pinky swear?"

"Pinky swear!" they held out their little fingers to each other, joining them when they got close.

"Well I think it's Red."

"You mean the Red?"

"Yeah."

"No Fucking Way!"

"Since when have you started swearing?"

"Quite a while now, I hid it from grandma and grandpa. It's no big deal. It's not like I'm a little girl any more." In Cynthia's eyes she was. She had turned thirteen this year and had wanted to start her Pokémon for the last two, her grandfather had forbid it until she was sixteen, citing Cynthia as an example.

"Pinky swear, you won't tell grandma about me swearing?"

"Sure"

"You're the best big sis! So anyway you really think it was Red?"

"Yeah, that Pikachu was absurdly strong and his eyes… Deep brown with the tint of crimson, exactly the same as Red's eyes."

"Was he good looking?"

"What?"

"I can imagine him being all heroic looking, saving damsels and all that."

"Well…He… was Ok I guess" her sister laughed a little wickedly.

"So what is Red doing up there?"

"I don't know, training I guess. Don't spread that Red is the Shadow Ok. I'm not entirely sure, I need to check first. But…"

"But what?"

"Well the person who can confirm it for me is…"

"Who?"

"Him" she said pointedly, a grimace forming on her face.

"Oh" the happy demeanour on her sister's face vanished. They sat in silence for while, thinking about the man they hated the most. Eventually they started talking again, Cynthia asking about Carla's school life. Carla telling her all the gossip.

The days flew by into months, each day the curiosity built up, nagging at her to go visit the person who had the answers for her. Each day she pushed it back, her anger getting the better of her, but it was becoming harder and harder each time. She also began to bore and get frustrated with her everyday life, her duties as champion, the press conferences she had to tend, the challengers that offered no competition. Each night she found herself looking out her window in the direction of where Kanto was and more specifically where Mt Silver was. She barely knew him, but she missed him and his life.

The simplicity, the straight forwardness and (oddly she thought) the silence of it. There, they were care free, nothing to bother them except nature. She missed the hyperactive Pikachu, the book reading Eevee, the constantly exercising Lucario, the entertaining Blastoise, the tea drinking Pokémon she did not know, and the huge caring Charizard. But most of all she missed the man full of mystery. He was cold yet underneath she could tell that he was warm, she'd felt at ease with him, just being around him was comforting somehow. She wanted to get to know him but she would have to find out more before she could unravel him. _'Fuck! I'll have to go see him.'_ She spat the word 'him' mentally. Her curiosity had gotten the better of her anger finally; she would go see him tomorrow.

The next day she travelled to Azcatraz, the highest security prison in the whole of Sinnoh. It was said that it was impossible to break out of this prison; apparently no one had ever got out. It was here where Sektor was held and the person that Cynthia needed to talk to. She did not have any trouble entering as she was the champion, but the guards gave her a long talk about security and about what she could and could not do.

"So what do you want here Miss Cynthia?" they asked her after giving her the low-down of the jail.

"I would like to talk to Hector Kenich if that is possible."

"The former world champ?"

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"No, just why would you want to talk to him?"

"I just need to ask him a few questions, alone if that's possible?"

"Hmmm, normally we would not allow such a high security prisoner visits from anyone, but as it is you, we'll allow it. We must take adequate security measures though."

"Of course." They led her to a small room which had thick concrete walls. At the other end of the room there was a chair and a glass panel with a phone on wall next to it, looking through the panel showed another room exactly like the one she was in. She sat down on the chair and waited. A prisoner walked in flanked by three guards, who sat him down at the chair, before chaining his legs and waist. The prisoner had brown hair with grey streaks flowing through it, his hazel eyes were sullen, and he was thin, probably underfed. He grinned when he saw her through the glass, revealing yellowing teeth, some of which were missing. When the guards had thoroughly checked that he was chained fully and that he could not escape, they left the room. Cynthia and the prisoner both picked up their phones.

"How are you my daughter?"

"Don't ever call me that!" she said through gritted teeth venomously. Her dad smiled.

"You can change your surname, refuse to visit me and remove me from your life all together, but I'll still always be your dad." Cynthia glared at him with pure hatred; if there was no glass panel in place she would have been choking him right then and there.

"So why are you here? I can't imagine it's to check up on me." He chuckled as he said this.

"Red" she snarled at him

"What about him?"

"I want information."

"Why don't you get it from Oak?" She continued to glare at him, but he took no notice and carried on.

"Ah well that old fuck is quite protective of Red I suppose. What do you want to know? I'm guessing it's not about my battles with him at the world tournament right?"

"Tell me about his Pokémon."

"Now that is a good question. Exactly how many he had I can't say, but I'll tell you about the ones I encountered. Everyone knows about the Pikachu that moved so fast that it couldn't be hit, the Blastoise that could counter any attack, the Venusaur that would take any and all attacks and still keep coming back at you, and the Snorlax that was most active Snorlax in history. (He chuckled as he said the last part)

"He also had a Lucario, which had a ridiculous amount of fighting spirit, not sure where he picked that up but it was good addition to his team. He also seemed to have all the Eeveelutions, but all of them had exactly the same left spiky ear, exactly the same. When he came to us at Cerulean Cave he let out an Eevee which could transform into any of its Eeveelutions, lucky fuck, where on earth do you get that kind of thing?

"Then of course were the big two, that black Charizard, I've never saw a more ferocious creature ever. It mercilessly took me apart as I tried to stall him from getting to Sektor. And then there was that…thing. I don't know what it was; it had a long purple tail and white-grey skin. It was wearing some kind of metallic body plates or armour of some kind. I'm pretty sure it was a Psychic type though; it just stood there, raised its arms and threw our machines around like nothing. Well that's all the Pokémon that I know of. Anything else you would like to know?"

"What happened to the Venusaur and Snorlax?"

"How do you..?"

"Answer the question." For the first time her dad's face changed from the happy grin to an expression which aged him considerably.

"Just understand this, I never wanted to hurt anyone, I just wanted to have more power. That's what Sektor promised me." Cynthia continued to glare at him, she did not care one bit for him.

"We fed some information about our location to them, hoping to draw Red away from Viridian. Red fell for it and we advanced on Viridian only to be confronted by that Venusaur and Snorlax. There was also a girl there as well. We outnumbered them massively, but they stood their ground even after we had battered them for such a long time. Eventually we got word that Red was on his way back, we had to retreat. The Snorlax and the girl were already dead and the Venusaur was so badly hurt that it wouldn't last for much longer." His voice had become very quiet as he said this, she could see that he was remorseful but she couldn't forgive for what he had done. She contemplated leaving, as she had all the information she needed but again curiosity got the better of her.

"How did Sektor power his machines and how did Red beat him?"

"The machines drew their power through the life-force of Pokémon, you could say that they sucked they energy out of them until they were bone dry but he also had another power source for his personal machine. He never told me what it was, but it was something small but extremely powerful, Sektor's personal machine was more powerful than all the others combined because of it, Red took it of him after defeating him. As to how Red beat him, well that is a question that only Red and Sektor could answer." She nodded, now she had all the knowledge she needed, it was time to leave.

"Will you come visit me again some time?" he asked hopefully. She looked at him coldly, weighing the request up.

"No." she said gently. And with that she put down the phone, turned and left.

* * *

**AN: Hoped it you enjoyed it. Please once again rate, review and subscribe**.

**Cheers!**


	9. Ghosts of the past, Ghost of the future?

**AN: Hello again, what is this a non-weekend update, well there's a story behind this, I'll tell you at the end. Also I won't be able to update for a long time (sorry), because as I said a few updates ago, some of my family arrived in the UK from Sri Lanka (my parents were born their, I was born here) so i want to show my cousin around London.**

**To clarify a few things: Sektor and Cynthia's dad are OC's, the rest of her family are mentioned in the games, her grandmother is given a name in the anime (correct me if I'm wrong), I did introduce Sektor in chapter 1, and I was hinting at Cynthia's dad back then as well. Also I've put this up to M, just to be on the safe side.**

**Anyway here's the next chapter and I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

A four year old boy and a Charmander were playing a small room. They were drawing some pictures on paper and also throwing paper at each other. They were laughing and running, having the time of their young lives. At first there was nothing remarkable about the boy. He had jet black hair, slightly tanned skin and deep brown eyes which had a tint of crimson some said. The Charmander was a different matter though. Its body was black as the boy's hair save for a small cream patch where its belly was, it blood red eyes and an orange-red flame at the end of its tail. The two of them had known each other their whole lives; they were best friends and brothers.

"Red? Red where are you?"

"Here mum." A woman walked into the room, she hugged the boy tightly before looking him in the face with a frown on his face, and she also had jet black hair and the same eyes as the boy. Her face was warm and comforting but she looked tired as well. She wore a blue shirt and black trousers, with a white lab coat over her. She also had wore a small silver bracelet on her left wrist which had engravings on it.

"What have I told you about walking of Redmond?" she scolded him.

"Mum!" he hated his full name.

"Char!-Char cha!" the Charmander walked up to the woman making gestures with its arms, expecting the woman to understand it.

"I'm not buying that it was your idea C. I don't know what I'm going to do with you two. You make me so worried." She hugged the boy tighter and closer to her.

"Mum! C'mon get of!" he tried to wriggle free away from her, both she and the Charmander giggled slightly as he squirmed.

"Dr G! You had better come quick! Its brainwaves have increased! We need you in the lab right now!" A man popped his head through the door, his face full of excitement. She sighed as she let him go, lines developing on her face.

"Ok I'll be there in a minute." She said turning back to the man, who promptly disappeared and ran, they could hear, back to wherever he had come from. She turned back to Red, sighing again.

"Go home now" she smiled at him

"Can't I come with you?"

"No! It's too dangerous." Frowning as she said so. He pouted at her, trying all his might to force his mum to take him.

"Please Red" she pleaded with him.

"Fine!" he said angrily.

"Thank you." She smiled at him before kissing on him on his forehead.

"Mum!" she laughed as he wiped at the spot where she had kissed him.

"I'll be home soon" she turned and leaved the room, her footsteps sounding out as she walked away. Red grinned mischievously at C who returned it, knowing what was about to come.

"Shall we check it out?"

"Char!" it replied nodding.

They quickly left the room, quietly moving out into the corridor outside before tip-toeing down it towards where they knew the lab was situated. They didn't pass any people along the way; they were all in the lab they assumed, probably marvelling at their experiment. They reached the lab; two huge locked doors blocked their path. To get in you needed a card to swipe through, which they didn't have, but they had figured out a way to get in some time ago. Carefully and quietly Red lifted C unto his shoulder so that C could reach the little machine where you swiped your card. C raised his claw to a small opening in the machine which they had made a few months ago. C inserted his claw, felling his way around before they heard a little click and the light on the machine changed from red to green. C quickly jumped of, and Red opened the door just enough so that they could get in without anyone else noticing.

They sneaked in, making sure that they made no noise. It didn't matter though as nobody noticed them. All of the people in the room were congratulating each other, patting each other on the back and saying how good a job each one of them had done. Red and C managed to crawl closer towards the left most side of the room, stopping once they found their typical hiding place just behind a wall that blocked them from view to anyone else in the rest of the room, near to a glass container. They had always wondered what the thing inside the container was. Inside there were bits of metal like things being propped up in such a way that in kind of resembled a human like shape though there were gaps where the neck, arms and upper legs should have been. Red thought it was some kind robot at first, but C convinced him later that it was probably some new kind of armour meant to protect people.

They peaked out from behind the wall, Red saw his mum in front of some computers next to the man who had come to get her. They had now clue what they were doing, all they could see was that they seemed to be talking about some data on the screen. They looked around some more, all around there were people in white labs coats attending to computers, machines or congregated near the centre of the room. They couldn't quite make out exactly what was in the centre of the room. It looked a glass tube filled with red fluid, and there was something more in the tube, but they couldn't make it out.

"Doctor! Look at this!" they heard a woman say.

"What?" the man nearest the tube replied.

"Its brainwaves, it's surging!"

"Here let me see."

"She's right!" they heard someone else say. All of a sudden a commotion break out, the scientists were running about dashing towards the computers. The man who had nearest the tube seemed to be in charge as he enthusiastically issued commands.

"Let's run another scan!" he said.

"Its mind is racing!" the woman who spoke earlier called out. Yet more commotion followed, the scientists seemed on edge, panicking a bit now. Even the lead scientist began to panic.

"I hope we don't lose this one. We can't lose this one!" The tube was suddenly filled by a blue aura and the glass began to crack. The scientists gasped, turning to look at the tube. The glass shattered the fluid spilling all around. The thing that was in the tube fell onto the stand that had held the tube up previously. They peeked a bit more, trying to get a better look, but all they could see was something purple. Machines were beeping all around them, most of the scientists were going crazy.

"Radio the boss' helicopter! Tell him what happened!" they heard a new man shout out.

"Quiet! Let us hear its Psychic powers!" the lead scientist shouted out.

"Psychic powers?" they heard a new voice, deeper and more menacing than they had ever heard.

"For years we struggled to successfully clone a Pokémon to prove out theories. But you're the first specimen to survive! That is Mew, the rarest of all Pokémon. From its D.N.A we created you Mewtwo!" the lead doctor said pointing his arm towards a picture of the rightmost wall of the room.

"Mewtwo? Am I only a copy, nothing but Mew's shadow?" they heard the menacing voice replied, becoming angry they could tell.

"You are greater than Mew. Improved through the power of human ingenuity! We used the most advanced techniques to develop your awesome Psychic powers."

"So, I an simply the end result of your experiment. What becomes of me now, that your experiment is over?" the voice asked, in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, our experiment isn't over yet- it's just the beginning! Now the serious testing begins!" the lead scientist replied enthusiastically, completely missing the sarcastic tone. The commotion started again, but the scientists were in a much happier mood, they were shaking hands, patting each other on the back and congratulating each other. Through all the noise they made out a conversation between the lead scientist and couple other people.

"Congratulations! We've done it!"

"Excellent job! Is the new tank ready?" the lead scientist asked.

"No, we'll have to come up with a cage for it." They weren't able to make out the next part of the conversation, it sounded like more congratulations.

"Excellent. We'll start our testing straight away." The lead doctor said. Suddenly they saw a blue aura surround the centre of the room, all the scientist near it were sent flying back away.

There was a small explosion as one the machines near the centre was destroyed. They saw numerous arm like machines appear out of the ceiling converging to the centre. Another blue aura appeared the robotic arms fell down snapped in half. The scientists were running towards the exit, the ground underneath them being ripped to shreds, some were lifted into the air somehow, blue light surrounding them. They watched in horror as they heard them scream as their arms and legs were slowly ripped off, blood splattering out as their limbs fell to the floor. Some were fortunate as the machines around them exploded killing them instantly, while others were beheaded by the supernatural blue force.

More explosions followed as the room was destroyed, something hit the wall they were hiding behind, the force enough to send them back towards the glass container, which had somehow remained undamaged. Red rolled over to where C was, picking his friend up. The Charmander was badly cut over its right eye, Red placed his hand on his friend's head hoping to stop the bleeding, before realising that he himself was bleeding from both his forearms. They huddled down together, finding shelter near the container, away from the fires that had now started. They closed their eyes as they heard the remaining scientists scream as they burnt alive.

"Uhh.." they opened their eyes to see the lead scientist being thrown across, landing near them. He panted heavily as sat up looking back at the fires in the room.

"We dreamed of creating the world's strongest Pokémon." He said to himself as a gap in the fires emerged.

"And we succeeded." He uttered his last words just before his neck was cut open by unknown means. They heard something move towards and tried to remain as quiet as possible. A creature came into view, its skin white-grey with a purple tail; it was tall well over six feet. It seemed to stand on its tip-toes and its long arms ended with three cushion like fingers. It seemed to have two necks, one looked like the norm straight and connecting the head to the body, the other right behind the first, but circular, extending out from the back of its head into its spine, defiantly not used for support. It had two small protrusions on the side of its head, possibly ears and it had the most menacing purple eyes they had ever seen. It turned and saw them, anger and fury welling up in its eyes. It raised its right arm gathering a black ball of crackling energy in its hand. They were scared to the bone but Red stood up shielding C from the creature.

"Do what you want with me! But let C go!" he said defiantly before C got up and stood in front of him, growling and shouting at the creature, which Red knew to mean that C would die to defend him. The creature lowered its arm, the energy ball dissipating. The anger in its eyes subsiding a bit, it looked around at wreckage surveying it. It looked at its hands, a sad demeanour came over it. It looked at a piece of glass that had broken of the container near them (which apart from that piece was somehow still holding firm, protecting the contents inside), it saw its reflection. They saw the hatred build up in its eyes again, before turning to look at the armour inside the container. It raised its arm as the door of the container opened. The armour pieces floated out and around the creature. It looked back at them before it blasted out of the room with those pieces.

After the fires died down a little they walked around, trying not to slip over any cables that remained from the machines or the amount of blood that was on the floor. As they walked around trying to get out of the wreckage, they came across severed limbs, torsos that had bones sticking out, heads that had no bodies and an eye that was rolling around the floor. Until Red spotted something silver shining as it reflected a stray flame. They walked towards it. It was a silver bracelet attached to wrist of a severed left arm. Red unhooked it, trying to read the engravings on it. It was burned so some of the words were not legible.

'My love….son…..Redm... G….." He fell to his knees, tears pouring down his cheeks, C next to him holding his arm, letting out soft cries of pain. There they remained until a man with greying-brown hair found them and took away.

* * *

"Hey look its mute boy!"

"Get him!" A seven year old boy with jet black hair, and deep brown eyes turned back to see a group of similarly aged boys chase after him. He immediately took of, running as fast as he could in the direction, which he knew was safety. He saw the building, he was almost, he tripped and fell. In seconds he was surrounded by the group.

"Got you now, voiceless!" he looked up to where the voice had come, a boy with spiky brown hair and electric blue eyes stood in front of, looking down at him. He thought that the boy had an evil grin on his face and grimaced when the boy crouched down to his level.

"Get him Blue!"

"Smack him to hell!"

"I'm going to enjoy this!" Blue whispered in his ear.

"Leave him alone Gary!" Blue stood up laughing, looking in the direction where the voice had come.

"My name is Blue! And what are you going to do Leafy if I don't!"

"I'll your grandfather!" Blue scowled, and turned back towards him.

"Next time Red, you won't have your bodyguard to save you!" Blue signalled to the group and they left some kicking dust into face. He heard footsteps walk over to him and looked up to see a girl kneel beside him. She had smile on her kind face as she offered him a hand, helping him up. She had dark brown hair with a leaf placed over her right ear and green eyes.

"Are you Ok?" she asked him. He nodded in response.

"Those guys are really mean. They should really be taught a lesson by someone." He nodded again.

"My names Lucky Green by the way, but call me Leaf, cos I don't like my name. Lucky is a stupid name!" she said enthusiastically holding out her hand. He looked at the outstretched hand.

"You're meant to shake it." She giggled as he grabbed her forearm and shook it with a confused look on his face.

"No silly like this." She took his hand and shook it, giggling again.

"Most people introduce themselves as well when you shake hands. But it's OK, I know you're called Red right?" He nodded again.

"You really don't talk much do you?" A half smile appeared on his face as he shook his head.

"Hey I made you smile! People said you never smiled. Anyway where you heading?" he motioned with his head towards the building that he had been running towards.

"Oh cool the lab as well! I'm going there now, my parents work for Professor Oak. Can I come with you?" He cocked his head towards his left shoulder, thinking about what she had asked him, before nodding again.

"Awesome!" They walked the short distance to the building before entering. She dragged him towards a woman, introducing him to her.

"Hey mum, this is Red!" The woman had long brown hair exactly the same shade as the girl, she had the same face as well, it just looked slightly older and she had amber eyes instead of green."

"I know who he is dear. He's in here everyday. Quite a charming boy." He looked down, putting his hands in his pockets, kicking the ground in embarrassment.

"I'm really sorry dear, but I have to get back to work. You go have fun with Red. He can show you all the Pokémon that live here; he pretty much knows all of them and they know and like him. Even the Professor's Dragonite like him."

"You've met the Professor's Dragonite?" she asked in bewilderment. He nodded again before looking up at the woman, his look asking for permission to show her the Dragonite, to which the woman nodded. He motioned for her to follow him before he raced of towards where Dragonite slept. He showed her around the fields, lakes and shrubbery, showing her all the Pokémon that called this place home. He could from the on her face that she was enjoying every single bit of it. She did look quite scared when she first saw the Professor's famous Dragonite. It ferocious and strong but he knew that it had a heart of gold and welcomed company. He'd whispered a few words into Dragonite's ear while she back apprehensively. It got the message and walked over to her menacingly before picking her and playing with her. He chuckled to himself as she screamed when she was picked before it turning into laughter as they played together. Finally he led her to his favourite place, where a something small and black jumped on him, nearly burning him in the process.

"Wow! I've never seen a Charmander let alone a black Charmander before!" she said. The Charmander looked back at him quizzically, which he knew to mean: _'Who the hell is this?'_ He leaned in close to his best friend and whispered.

"I think I made a friend." The Charmander looked surprised but then looked delighted and it jumped towards the girl hugging her leg.

"Awww, it's so cute!" The Charmander let go immediately, looking horrified. It looked back at him asking for reassurance that it wasn't. He laughed.

"You made a sound finally!" he grinned at her and held out his hand.

"Hi, my name's Red!" he said softly.

* * *

"I don't like this Red!" a fourteen year old girl said. She had long brown hair and sparkling green eyes. She wore a blue top, red skit, white hat and a silver chain around her neck. In front of her was boy of roughly the same age. He wore a red jacket over a black vest, blue jeans and a red cap. He was frowning slightly at the girl.

"It just doesn't make any sense! Why would Sektor go to the power plant?" He shrugged his shoulders, he didn't actually care why Sektor would go to the plant or what he would do there; all that he cared about was that Sektor was going to the power plant and that he could catch him finally. She scowled at him, as he looked indifferently at her.

"Red think about it for a second. We know Sektor doesn't need a power source, so why would he go there? And more to the point why would he go alone?" Red shrugged again.

"Zapdos?" he muttered unconvincingly.

"You and I both know that Zapdos migrated to Johto about a month ago and won't be back for at least another!" he frowned at her, she was right of course but he still felt they were wasting time debating what Sektor was going to do rather than actually trying to catch him.

"Red, what's wrong?" She asked with a slightly worried look on her face. His face turned to stone, he gave away no emotion as he shook his head, indicating that nothing was wrong.

"It's Gareth isn't it?" He half smiled; she always was a good guesser.

"Three years after you crushed him and proved that you are the best trainer in the whole of Kanto and not him, don't tell me that his gloating on TV still gets to you? It wasn't even that impressive, all he did was catch a couple of Sektor's low level thugs" Again he half smiled at her.

"When will you two stop hating each other? I know he still acts like a complete dick sometimes but at least he's getting a bit better, all be it slowly."

"So I'm a bit pissed at Blue. It still doesn't change the fact that Sektor could be at this very moment at the power plant all alone, where we can easily get him." He saw the look of surprise on her face. He knew it wasn't about what he had said, more the fact that he had actually said more a sentence in one go. She got over her shock soon enough replying to him.

"This is not like Team Rocket and Giovanni Red. We can't go charging in head first into this situation. Team Rocket were an underground criminal organisation, they didn't have the numbers or the machinery that Sektor does now. And at least Giovanni had some morals, Sektor does not! This is war Red, it's not just our lives at risk, it's everyone in the whole of Kanto who is at risk, and it could even be the world. What if it is a trap and you get captured or worse killed? Who's going to defend those who cannot defend themselves? Who's going to stop Sektor?"

"I'm that good, huh?" he grinned at her.

"Don't get full of yourself. I'm sure Gareth could stop Sektor just as well as you could." She smiled mischievously while he glared back at her.

"Either way Red we need to discuss what we should do with this info, with everyone else before we decide on what to do with it. And you are not going alone whether you like it or not." He frowned; he wasn't convinced about her argument.

"Please G" His face went stony again, besides his Pokémon no one else knew the first initial to the surname that he never knew. Though his Pokémon called him that she very rarely did, using it only when the two of them were alone or the situation was serious.

"Fine Leaf." He muttered, caving in.

"Thanks Red!" she hugged him, before they walked back to the room they were renting that night.

He couldn't get any sleep, his mind restless with the possibility of catching Sektor, ending the war once and for all. He got out of his bed looking over at the other side of the room where another was. She was usually a deep sleeper but he made sure just in case. Silently he walked out the room grabbing two of his Pokéballs as he did so.

'_What do you command master?' _he heard a voice in his head as a Venusaur emerged from its Pokéball.

'_Saur how many times do I have to say! Red or G never master. It's been nearly four years now! C'mon bro!'_

'_Sorry master….sorry' _Saur thought sheepishly.

'_S'matter….still dark…..fuck!'_ they heard a new voice yawning in their heads as a Snorlax also emerged, slapping itself awake.

'_I've got a job for you guys. I'm going to check out the power plant with the rest of the gang. Can you guys stay here and make sure nothing happens to Leaf for me?'_ The two Pokémon both looked disappointed that they would not be going with Red, but they agreed to his plan as they were to guard a very important person and close friend.

'_Thanks guys, I'll put your Pokéballs near her bad and write her a note about what I'm doing and what you guys are doing.'_ Red went back into the room placing the two Pokéballs on the desk nearest her bed, grabbing a piece of paper and pen, scribbling down a note explaining what he had done, leaving it next to the Pokéballs. He left the room again releasing a black dragon with a massive wing-span and flame on its tail that was mostly orange-red in colour but had a few blue and white streaks beginning to form. The Charizard greeted the two other Pokémon fondly before leaning down so that Red could get on.

'_Power Plant?' _the Charizard asked.

'_You know it.'_ They took of, gaining height rapidly, before shooting of at an amazing speed in the direction of the power plant. For the most part of their journey they remained silent, the two of them comfortable in the knowledge that they were about to end the war until Red noticed that something was bothering his longest companion.

'_What is it C?'_

'_Perhaps we should have picked up Vee and Lucy, since Saur and Snorlax are both guarding Lucky.'_ Red frowned, he had forgotten about them.

'_Not that we can't handle them ourselves'_ C quickly added, but Red knew that C was right, having seven members would be far superior to having five but it was too late to head back to Pallet now. The sun was rising; Sektor could leave at any moment. A couple of minutes passed, before they finally the plant came into view. C descended, landing behind some rocks, well out of sight. Red released his other Pokémon. A Pikachu ran around them before jumping onto Red's right shoulder, nibbling at his ear. A Blastoise stood next to C while on C's other side stood a Pokémon with white-grey skin, a long purple tail and was wearing what looked like a robotic suit of armour.

'_Let's Rock and Roll!'_

'_Hold on Pikka, there's bound to be some sort of defences, we need a plan' _C replied.

'_Since when have we ever planned anything? I say we do the usual. Smash through the front door. Beat the crap out of everyone. Leave like a boss!'_

'_Shut up Bob! Mewtwo any ideas?'_ The Pokémon in the robotic suit inclined its head toward them.

'_Bob's idea was pretty good.'_ The Blastoise burst out laughing, Red himself suppressed a giggle. Mewtwo had really developed a sense of humour since they had met two years ago, if only he could help him get over his phobia now.

'_OK, how about this? Pikka and I take the front, Mewtwo you come in from the side, C you come down from the top and Bob you take the back.'_

'_This sounds very unpleasant for the poor power plant especially with me taking the rear entrance!'_

'_Shut up Bob!'_

'_Let's do this!'_ They moved into position quickly and silently, before Red gave them the signal. They moved in. There was nothing there, no Pokémon, no people, just dust and old broken turbines. Red and Pikka meticulously covered their sector before meeting up with C, who had covered his, then Mewtwo and finally Bob.

'_This can't be right! He must be here somewhere!' _Red thought. They searched again but still nothing.

'_There must be a secret room or something!' _Once more they searched the building this time with C finding something, his keen eyes spotting what the rest of them had not.

'_What is it?'_

'_Looks like a tiny camera. The place could be littered them.'_ C projected his next thought to Red only.

'_I think it's a set up G.'_

'_No it can't be'_ Red thought back. _'Search again'_ he thought to everyone. Three searches later Red finally admitted defeat. They left not knowing that the camera's were on them the whole time.

* * *

He was battered and bloodied, his clothes were tattered, he had more cuts than he could count on his body, two more across his left cheek and bits of his left ear had been ripped of. He was supported by a badly bruised but otherwise Ok C, who was also holding a fainted Vee under his other arm. Next to C was Pikka, again badly bruised and panting heavily, he couldn't stand so instead was sitting down. A bit behind them stood Bob, his shell dented in many places, his face full of cuts, he was cradling an unconscious Lucy, whose chest spike had been broken half way down. A little of the left of them stood Mewtwo wearing his robotic armour, which was scratched, and had burn marks all over it, his right hand raised psychically holding Sektor up.

'_Shall we dispose of him?' _Mewtwo asked. Every fibre in him told him that they should kill Sektor, he didn't deserve to live.

'_She wouldn't want that G.' _He heard C voice in his head, knowing that his closest friend had sensed what was going through his mind.

"What are you boy? I have the Shard! I should be unstoppable! What you did… it was impossible!"

'_Knock the bastard out!'_ Mewtwo complied bringing a small rock up and hitting Sektor on the head with it. He limped over to the wreckage that was Sektor's personal machine, a multitude of wires and metal greeted him before he caught of the glint of brown. He picked it up, it looked like a shard of brown glass but it had no scratches on it, nothing that would have indicated that a colossal battle had just taken place. He pulled out the silver chain that hung around his neck, attaching the glass like substance to the chain. A second reminder of his most costly mistake, a third object to remind him of his past.

'_What now?' _Pikka asked.

'_Red need to die.'_ He replied _'This' _he pointed to the shard, _'needs to be forgotten. Better yet it needs to be destroyed if it can be. I will take to a place where no one would bother look and where most people won't be able to get to in the first place. I need to disappear, people will find out I am in possession of it. I can't let them find me before I destroy it.'_

'_OK then, where are we going?' _Bob asked, he didn't reply, it was not their journey. He could not, and would not ask them follow him this time. There was more to it than just protecting and attempting to destroy the object. They did not have sins that needed to be punished; it was time for their journeys together to end.

'_I'll be dammed if you do what I think you're going to do!'_ C snarled at him. Red frowned, it was impossible to keep anything away from his closest friend.

'_Why? What is going on?'_

'_He intends to go to Mt Silver, alone!'_ The rest of them started to protest immediately, Red held up his hand silencing them.

'_We'll talk later, right now let's just get out of here.'_ When they get to Pallet he'd have to ask a favour from Professor Oak, there was no way he was letting them come with his this time. He turned back to see Mewtwo standing still.

'_What's wrong?'_

'_Well it's just if…. If Red needs to disappear…then I could destroy this place….you know fake your own death….kind of…'_ Red nodded, he knew that wasn't the real reason why Mewtwo wanted to destroy this place, he knew what this place was to Mewtwo so he didn't press any further.

They left the cave dragging Sektor and what remained of his followers out, Mewtwo bringing up the rear. Destroying the cave as he did so.

* * *

Lucy was on the floor beside him, her spikes ripped out, her arms and legs had been broken, she was lying face down, making no movement what so ever. Next to Lucy was Vee, her limbs had been ripped of her torso, showing the bones sticking out. Her ears had also been ripped off pealing away skin from the top of her head showing the top of her skull. A bit further ahead lay Bob, his shell ripped of, his stomach ripped open, intestines dragged out. To Bob's right was Pikka's head, the rest of his body no where to be found. His brilliant blacks eyes had faded and a look of horror was on his face. To the left lay Mewtwo, one of his eyes rolled around the floor, the other squashed next to his body, his left arm had been severed and his neck spilt open.

He heard groans of pain up ahead running towards the sound he found C, his right wing missing, left horn broken, blood spewing out of his body rapidly. He cradled C's head as his best friend spoke his last words.

"Hey bro….I'm sorry…I failed.' C shut his eyes and became motionless. He looked behind C, there lay a blonde woman with grey eyes, spread-eagled on the floor.

G opened his eyes. He was lying on his back in front of their graves. He had been thinking about his past. He realised that he must have dozed of, and the last thoughts were just a dream, but they had still troubled him. It was too real to be just a dream. His thought wondered to the blonde woman, he knew nothing about her, not even her name, yet why did she matter so much?

'_Hey you OK?'_ he heard C land next to him.

'_Yeah I'm fine.'_

'_And I'm a Caterpie.' _C sat down next to him raising his wing, above him, stopping the snow and hail from hitting him. He half smiled; he never could tell a lie to C.

'_Just thinking about the past.'_

'_And?'_ He told C what he had been thinking about and the dream he had at the end. C remained silent throughout. Smiling at the end.

'_That won't happen again. You and I both know that you won't let it happen, we were younger then, we know more now. And besides the only way that it could happen is if we all have a battle royale up here, plus I'd win and still be alive.' _They laughed together.

'_I think the more pressing matter is why that woman was in your dream. I suppose she was good looking, for a human anyway.'_

'_What?'_ C laughed.

'_C'mon, time to get back to the cave.' _

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**AN: Well there you go, rate, review and subscribe and now for the story about the chapter.**

**I have no memory of writing this, this was not in my original plan for the story. Sunday (July 29th) night my cousin and I hit a club, and were having a good time (we were drunk out of our minds) until my cousin decides to puke on the bouncer and pass out. Not surprisingly we got kicked out and I had to carry him back to my flat. I woke up the next morning with a massive hang over in my chair in front of my laptop, and right in front of me was this chapter. When I got back from work, I read through it, thought it was pretty good and now it's part of the story!**


	10. Sleepy Town of Champions

**AN: Hello again, not much to say here other than I don't own Pokemon.**

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Cynthia returned to Kanto soon after her she had finished her talk with her father. Her intention was to climb Mt Silver once again so that she could talk to her mystery man; so that she could talk to Red. She didn't know why she wanted to talk to him or what she was even going to talk about; he barely said a word the whole time that she was up there. _'I could ask him why he's up there.' _She thought to herself. But she already had a hunch as to why in the first place. The deaths must have had an effect on him and caused him to go into isolation; but why for so long and why did he not look for help to deal with his grief, surely being around others would help him. She didn't no why she cared so much, all she knew was that she wanted more. More of him.

Unfortunately for her though the roads to Mt Silver had been closed. A recent storm had engulfed the mountain and the surrounding area. A layer of snow, which came up to waist height, covered the roads and underneath that layer was another couple millimetres of ice. Even Silver Town itself seemed as though it had been covered by a blanket of snow. This had meant that all the guards were busy trying to clear roads and reconnect with the last Pokémon centre that stood near Mt Silver. It was not a total disaster though; she took the opportunity to watch a small friendly tournament that was being held at the Indigo Plateau. There were a few Gym leaders competing as well, who could easily be entering the Pokémon World Tournament, so she was able to scout her possible opposition and see how the local conditions affected battles.

She was particularly impressed by the trainer that she was watching currently, he had just beaten his opponent, winning the tournament, and not losing a single Pokémon in the process; in fact no one had knocked out a single one of his Pokémon she found out. He looked in his late teens, had spiky brown hair and electric blue eyes. Cynthia noticed that there were quite a lot of empty seats during the competition despite a flyer stating that all tickets had been sold already, but whenever this young man battled the stadium was always full, with most of the crowd being female. They screamed at him constantly, many asking him to marry them. _'He's quite handsome, but defiantly not my type.'_ She thought to herself. Unlike her he enjoyed the attention as he played the crowd whenever he could, waving and winking at them when he entered and left (sometimes even during a battle), signing autographs, blowing kisses and even taking his shirt of and throwing it to the audience.

"And the winner of this match, BLUUUUUE!" she felt that she had seen or heard his name before, but she couldn't place when or where she had seen or heard of him. She sighed as she saw him lap up yet another interview, he really did seem to love the media and they loved him by the looks of it. She looked over to her right and was surprised to see Professor Oak. _'What is he doing here?'_ she thought. She would pay him a visit tomorrow to ask him plus she could talk to him about Red as well, she smiled at the thought and looked over towards Mt Silver. She couldn't wait to meet her mystery man again.

The next day she took the short road to Pallet town and to the Professor's lab. It didn't take her long to get there, as she knew the route quite well now. Before long she found herself in front of his lab, she walked in; almost immediately noticing that it wasn't as busy as the last time that she was here. It was quieter and there were less people than last time, probably due to a hang over from the tournament she thought. She made her way to the Professor's office stopping outside the door as she heard voices coming from inside. She knocked on the door.

"Come in." she heard the Professor's familiar voice as she opened the door. She was shocked to see a young man, who appeared to be in his late teens, with spiky brown hair and electric blue eyes lounging on a chair, his feet up on Professor Oak's desk. Blue was wearing a black shirt and bagging blue jeans with six Pokéballs attached to his belt. He had a bored look on his face; he didn't even acknowledge that she had just entered the room.

"Why hello Cynthia." The Professor spoke to her dragging her attention away from Blue. He was standing near the door, seemingly about to exit the room before she had knocked.

"Cynthia this is my grandson Gareth."

"Oi!" Blue turned to Professor Oak with an annoyed look on his face.

"He prefers it if you call him Gary or Blue" he sighed as Blue's face retuned to its look of boredom.

"He is the current Gym leader of Viridian City. Gary this is Cynthia the champion of Sinnoh." So this was the infamous Gym leader that spends the least possible time in his gym. She smiled waving at him while he simply gave her a curt nod, not even bothering to look at her.

"So Cynthia to what do I have this pleasure of seeing you again?" Oak continued.

"Oh…I just wanted to talk."

"OK, could it wait until I fetch a package for Gary, it won't take that long I promise."

"Of course Professor." she replied nodding.

"Thank you, I'll go get it now. While you wait I'm sure that Gary will entertain you." He smiled at Blue who returned it with a frown of resignation before leaving the room. For a while there was an awkward silence before Cynthia finally spoke up.

"So…uhm… Gary…"

"Blue, call me Blue." She looked at him confused, was it his blue eyes that gave him this name? He seemed to sense her confusion as he continued.

"It was my nickname growing up, suppose it still is, HaHa. And yes it is partly due to my awesome eye colour but also to solidify my rivalry with another trainer." She was still confused, how could a colour be part of a rivalry? But more importantly who was Blue's rival.

"Hey aren't you that chick who disappeared up on Mt Silver some time ago?" He asked a grin appearing on his face. She blushed giving the answer away.

"Bet you thought that as champion you could easily climb it, didn't ya?" she didn't answer him but he continued on anyway, not waiting for one as he laughed.

"Lance thought like that, he tried to fly up to the top on his Dragonite. Could only get half way up. He had to climb the rest of the way. Apparently took him nearly three weeks to just climb half the distance. What an absolute idiot! You never catch me do something that stupid! I actually value my own and Pokémon's health, even if we were still champs."

"Wait you were the Kanto champion?" she looked more confused than ever.

"Yeah, bout eight years ago now. Number one trainer in Kanto, and I was the youngest trainer ever. Between you and me I could still take old dragon boy if I really wanted to. But that would be too much responsibility for me; Gym leader is fine with me. Lance should be grateful as well. He only ever has to face Johto trainers now." He laughed as he said his final sentence while she frowned at him. If he was so strong then why not challenge Lance even if it meant more responsibility, he would have more media attention and from what she had seen he loved that. And what did he mean that he was the youngest champion ever that title belonged to someone else. And then it her, she remembered a photo she had seen in the Hall of Fame.

"You're Gary 'Blue' Oak!"

"No shit! Have we not been introduced?" he asked sarcastically.

"Are you all right in the head? You ain't got a mental condition or something?" she ignored his insult and continued.

"You lost your title to Red!" His face became expressionless as she spoke.

"Yeah. I did." He said, his voice near silent. He got out of his chair and picked up a photo on Professor Oak's desk.

"He took my record away from and gave me an unwanted one which still have to this day. Shortest reign ever thank to that son of a bitch." He laughed as a smile appeared on his face.

"Well at least I can claim to be the only person to beat him legit. He always let her win whenever they battled." Cynthia noted that he seemed to be talking to himself as stared into the photo. A small tear seemed to form by his eye but turned away just as he did so. She was intrigued as to what was in the photo as he turned back around (the tear mysteriously disappeared) placing the photo back on the desk.

"You know almost everyone goes to gramps when they want info on Red instead of me, even though I grew up with the guy. I probably know more about him than anyone else … alive. It's not like I'm complaining though, I don't think I be good at talking about it." She noticed his small pause before he said alive, she had wondered why he had done that and she saw that his face seemed to sadden as well. As for the not being able to talk about, she doubted him as from what she could tell he was a very good speaker, the more likely reason was that he just plain didn't want to talk about it.

"So where do you think you'll come in the Pokémon World Tournament?"

"Quarters, Semis" she said humbly, truth be told she expected to make it to the final and to win, but she did notice his sudden change of topic.

"Yeah I'll be disappointed if I don't make the final. The qualifying stages will be way too easy; honestly I don't know why they're making me qualify. I'm a former champ after all. It's not like I'm as weak as the other Gym leader is it now? Then it's just a couple of easy Elite Four members before I reach the semis where hopefully I meet good old dragon boy. I can't wait to whip his ass and embarrass him again." He laughed.

"Who knows it might even battle you in the final, but I doubt it." He said again laughing; paying no attention to Cynthia, who gave him an evil glare, not amused at the chances that he gave her to reach the final. He was interrupted from continuing further as Professor Oak returned carrying a package in his hands.

"Here you go Gary; this should power those spinners inside your Gym."

"Thank gramps! Smell ya later!" He took the package and left nodding goodbye to Cynthia.

"I hope he wasn't too much trouble. At least he's more responsible now that he's a Gym leader. You should have seen him before, he was quite a handful." Oak asked her as he took a seat behind his desk; Cynthia taking one in front.

"No he was no trouble at all."

"Good to hear. So what is it that you want to talk to me about?"

"Well I saw you at that small tournament yesterday at the Indigo Plateau. I was going to ask why you were there, but I guess that's already been explained. But I do want to talk about something else anyway."

"Yes, I had some time to myself so decided to show my support to Gary not that it looked like he needed any more." He laughed while Cynthia smiled, giggling slightly as she remembered the army of girls that had followed Gary.

"So what else do you want to talk about?"

"Red is the Shadow of Mt Silver isn't he?" She noticed the surprise and shock on Professor Oak's face. He tried to cover it up quickly but the damage had already been done.

"What gives you that idea?"

"His eyes. Deep brown with a small tint of crimson. Exactly the same as the eyes that Red has in his Hall of Fame picture. There were a few other things which gave it away as well but that was main one."

"You haven't told anyone have you?" Oak asked frowning at her.

"No, except for my sister who's promised not to tell anyone. So Red is the Shadow then?"

"Well I'm not going to lie now, so I'll say no comment on the matter." A small smirk appeared on his face but she knew that was as good as a yes.

"May I ask how you saw his eyes?"

"Uhn….well you know that little accident I had." She said as she began to feel embarrassed.

"Yes."

"Well, it wasn't quite so little. I fell. Quite a long way, I was knocked out, had a couple of cracked ribs, a hairline fracture in my right upper arm and my right leg had more cuts and bruises than I could count. And all this while a storm was coming in. He well… saved me. He took me in and looked after me while the storm passed. I managed to get a glimpse of his eyes while I lived with him during that period."

"Oh."

"Yeah." There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Cynthia finally spoke up.

"Blue, I mean Gary said he grew up with Red and he was Red's rival."

"Yes he did."

"He also implied that he didn't like to talk about it."

"Hmm."

"Why? Were they not friends then?"

"No. They never were, they weren't exactly mortal enemies but the two didn't like each other almost as soon as I brought Red here nearly fourteen years ago. Though they did grow to respect each other after Red defeated my grandson to become Kanto champ."

"Why didn't they get along?"

"A lot of reasons to be honest. They were the exact opposite of each other. My grandson was rich, a bit on the louder side and the most popular kid growing up. Red was poor, near silent and nobody really cared about him at all. My grandson used to be a bit of bully when he was a child, he frequently picked on Red. There were many a time when I caught Gary and his little gang pestering poor Red as he walked home from school. The only thing they had in common was Pokémon, both being extremely interested in them but here again they differed. My grandson initially wanted to use them to achieve his dream of becoming the strongest trainer in the world; Red just wanted to make friends. After his defeat, my grandson came round o Red's way of training, thankfully."

"Professor can I take a look at that photo?" He looked at her with an intrigued look, curious as to why she wanted to take a look. Carefully he handed the photo to her. She recognised Red and Blue almost instantly. They looked much younger, around thirteen if she had to make a guess. Blue wearing a dark blue shirt and black trousers, his arms folded a cocky smirk on his face. Red in his signature clothes and a half smile on his face. In between the two was a girl of similar age, her right arm over Red's shoulder. She wore a white hat, blue top and red skirt; she had wavy brown hair with a clover placed above her right ear and sparkling green eyes. She looked the happiest of three in the photo, a broad smile on her face and her left hand making the victory sign.

"Pallet Town, the sleepy town of champions. That's what they used to call this place back then." The Professor said more to himself than to her.

"She easily could have been the champion herself if Gary and then Red hadn't beaten her to it. You should have seen Lance's face, three defeats in one day. I don't think he still believes it himself."

"Who is she Professor?"

"Lucky Green, but she preferred to be called Leaf. Her parents used to work here in my lab but they left about three years ago. She was the only true human friend that Red made growing up here; they formed a very close bond. Brother and sister you could say. She was another reason why Gary bullied Red." Cynthia gave the Professor a confused look so he continued.

"Even now he won't admit it, but he had a crush on her. However, she spent most her time with Red, possibly making him a bit jealous. Despite having nearly every girl in Kanto fawn over him, he fell for the one that didn't. And between you and me, my grandson isn't the best when it comes to dealing with the opposite gender." The Professor chuckled.

"Where is she now?" Cynthia already knew though, as soon as she saw the picture she had known. As Professor Oak's face fell, full of sorrow, it confirmed to her that the girl who died with Venusaur and Snorlax was indeed Leaf. Her father was the reason that Red had gone into seclusion. Her father had taken away Red's closest friend. Her father was a killer.

"I'm sorry Professor." She truly was, a member of her family had ripped their lives apart and she couldn't help feel responsible for it somehow. He nodded as tears flowed down his cheeks.

"He blames himself for what those bastards did. That is why he's up there." Cynthia was shocked at his anger and his choice at words. The Professor was known for his cool and calmness, seeing him in this state rocked her.

"When he defeated Sektor, he came to me bloodied and battered. He told me where he was going; he told me he needed to be punished for letting her die. He asked me to look after his Pokémon and was about to leave before that marvellous Charizard and Pikachu stopped him and forced him to take his team with him. And I haven't seen him since." He was crying hard now, Cynthia got up and placed her arm over the Professor. They sat in silence save for his sobs for a while until he had recovered.

"Thank you." He said politely.

"Any time Professor." She smiled back at him.

"I'd best be on my way now. Thank you for everything." He nodded and she made her way out. As she left the lab she looked up at Mt Silver. She had two goals now. Win the world championship and to make up for the sins of her father. She had to help Red.

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**AN: So this chapter was the hardest to write so far, especially trying to follow what I think was the best chapter so far. But anyways, rate, review and subscribe please.**

**Cheers**


	11. A new friend

**AN: what's up guys, I'm back. Sorry that this update took so long. It's just that I've got a new project at work and guess what I actually understand (and enjoy) what going on. But back to the story. As always I do not own Pokemon or anything worthy of note, except for an amazing £45.26 in my bank account.**

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Bob and Lucy were going hammer and thongs at each other. Their training sessions with each other were the most intense. In part due to their rivalry over who was the stronger but also the fact that Lucy was the butt of most of Bob's jokes contributed to the ferocity whenever they spared. Bob was trying to get in close and use his superior strength to grab hold of her and finish her with a deadly barrage of close up attacks. While Lucy used her speed and agility to get away from him and sent long range attacks at the powerful Blastoise.

G watched them as they went at it, not paying quite so much attention as he normally did. It was not like they needed him, they knew the training session that he had laid out for them and they didn't want to be stopped in the middle of their fight to be coached on a different technique or how they could have played it in a slightly different manner. His mind was wondering anyway, the anniversary was coming up. He thought about them a lot, how he had failed them so badly but he was troubled about the dream he had. Could he possibly cause the deaths of his closest friends again? One of the reasons he had exiled himself was so that he could distance himself from others, so that he couldn't fail people, so that he would cause them harm. _'But I am a failure. Who's to say I won't fuck up again?'_ he thought to himself.

"Hey Lucy! I didn't know you were such a coward!" Bob shouted at Lucy laughing at the same time. She was incensed at this and charged at Bob, who countered, grabbing and then putting her in a head lock. He hit her with a couple of Rock Smashes before performing a Seismic Toss on her. Bob had gotten the better of Lucy again. G sighed but smiled slightly. Lucy's only true weakness now was Bob. Only Bob could get into her head like that and force her into a mistake, it was something that wouldn't truly go away but at least it provided entertainment for the whole group at night.

'_Yo guys, there's a trainer approaching the peak. I think you might like this one as well.'_ They heard C's voice in their heads with G noticing the tone. It seemed giddy and he imagined that C had a smirk on his face. He returned Bob and Lucy to their Pokéballs as they prepared themselves for the trainer. No one had got this far up the mountain for a very long time. There had been a couple of trainers some time back who only got about an eight of the way up before getting themselves into trouble (one with the Sneasel gang) and had to be rescued and dropped at the foot of the mountain by C. In fact he hadn't had any human interaction since the blonde woman had left.

As he heard footsteps and the huffing and puffing of a person arriving he walked over to the spot on the peak which was slightly elevated, getting a Pokéball ready. He turned the other way as he usually did (so that his back would face the trainer) and stood like a statue against the raging weather. He smiled to himself; this had worked a few times previously. The approaching trainer would see him motionless and call out to him; he would ignore them hoping they would leave him be. Sometimes they would, turning to go back down the mountain when C would swoop down behind them, grab them and fly back down the mountain. Other times they would stay, challenging him to a battle, to which he would finally turn around and accept the challenge. They had beaten everyone who had challenged them effortlessly; there was no trainer that had ever given them a challenge. He smiled to himself again; this trainer would be just like the rest. Freaked out by his ghost like motionlessness or scared of him once they had battled. Either way they would not come back.

"Hey!" He turned around as he heard the familiar voice. Standing there in front of him was a woman with blonde hair and grey eyes. His mouth was open making an O like shape. She giggled slightly at this before walking towards him. He got over his shock as confusion took hold of him; he had literally no idea what to do next. As she closed the distance between them he half heartedly raised his right arm up, showing her the Pokéball in his hand. She now stood right in front of him as she smiled and shook her head.

"I don't want to battle, yet. Can we talk?" He titled his head towards his right shoulder and lowered his arm, he tried to look into her eyes to get a read on her but she quickly broke it blushing as she did so. Why did she want to talk to him? They had hardly talked at all the last time they had been together. His curiosity got the better of him as he nodded hi head.

"Cool!" she smiled at him as he nodded, but they remained silent and still atop the peak for a few moments before she spoke up again as she shivered and rubbed her arms trying to generate heat in them.

"Maybe we could talk in your cave? It's a bit cold up here." She laughed and he quickly nodded again realising how foolish it was of him to expect them to talk up here. He released Lucy and Bob.

'_Haven't crushed another trainer in while, this should be… What the fuck!?'_ Lucy thought.

'_Hey guys, can you go on rounds while I take her to the cave?' _G asked them.

'_Hell No! This is far too interesting to pass up. Man I could get a heap of material from this. I'm so coming to the cave with ya.' _Bob replied.

'_It's not my turn to do rounds. And if Bob's not doing them I'm defiantly not!'_ G sighed, giving up on the argument. He started on his way down to the cave with them beckoning for her to follow him. She tripped a few times while they made their way towards the cave, but he caught her whenever she did; prompting her face to redden as he did so. He heard and saw Bob smirking when he stopped her from falling and for most of the rest of the journey he tried not to look back at her. They finally reached the cave, walking inside to find Vee snuggled up in her cot reading yet another book.

'_It's not my….Oh…'_ she said as she looked up at them noticing the woman standing behind them.

'_She wants to talk. Relax I guess.'_ G told Vee. None of his Pokémon relaxed, instead focusing all their attention on the woman who had returned. G shuffled awkwardly unsure as to what he should do. He walked over to the table offering her a seat at it, which she took. He fretted around looking for food and drink to offer for her but she politely refused it.

"You know we haven't been introduced properly yet. My name is Cynthia. I'm form Celestic Town in Sinnoh." She extended her hand out towards him. He looked at it for a bit remembering the time Leaf had taught him about the handshake, it made him sad for a few moments before he realised that she still had her hand out. He quickly grabbed it and shook it trying to cover up his initial hesitance. She smiled at him warmly as he shook it before it turned to a smile of slight confusion as they let go of each others hands.

"Usually when two people meet and introduce each other, they give their name." She said with a slight giggle as she smiled at him mischievously. He had a problem, he couldn't and didn't want to give her his real name; he was supposed to be dead after all. Then he remembered the name that she that she had used the last time that she was here. He liked it, it fitted him sort of. He lived away from civilisation, away from the limelight and he was nothing like his former self. He lived in the shadows and was a shadow himself.

"Shadow." As he said his adopted name to her, he was confused (though he did not show it) at her expression. She was smiling again but with a knowing look on her face.

"I know that's not your real name. It's Red isn't it?" For the second time that day he was in shock and again his face showed it. He hardly ever changed his facial expressions around other humans; he couldn't remember the last time it had changed twice in the same day. He glanced over at his closet friends; their faces were like his, in total shock over the fact that this woman, Cynthia had figured out his name. He regained his composure and retuned his expression to its familiar stone like appearance.

"How?... How did you?" he asked her, his voice breathless as he struggled to find the right words.

"Your eyes. I saw a picture of you in the Hall of Fame. They are exactly the same eyes as yours are, I kinda had a feeling it was you when I saw you for the first time but now I definitely sure." She stared straight into his eyes as she said this, before he broke away, cursing to himself about that god forsaken picture that had to be taken. It had landed him in disaster. Others might know that he was here now, some might even know that he was the last person to have the shard and come for that (but he worried less about that). They would come to battle him, talk to him, praise him, and treat him to things that he didn't deserve. But worse still what if they found out what he had done, what if they found out about his failures? How would they treat him? They had every right to punish him, torture him or sentence him. He deserved it but it was his secret, his burden to bear and he knew his Pokémon would try to stop them even if he told them not to. He didn't want to cause any more harm than he had already done.

He pondered his next move. He could stay here hoping that no one would find out else would find out about him, but it seemed more likely that there would be. This meant that he would have to relocate to somewhere else. He grasped the brown like glass shard that was attached to his silver chain, turning it over in his hands as he thought about possible locations that he could move to. Mt Ember was the first that came to his mind, he had a good relationship with Moltres, (it visited him whenever it migrated from Mt Ember to Mt Silver) and the other Pokémon there were strong. But the climb up was not difficult; the winds not fierce enough, trainers could get to him relatively easily. Perhaps he could hide out in Tohjo falls, the caves behind the waterfall would provide shelter for them but again they were easy to get to and many people passed by that way to cross between Kanto and Johto. Maybe he would need to leave Kanto and Johto all together. The Cave of Origin in Hoen or Mt Coronet in Sinnoh, but these to had there problems, the cave was located too near civilisation and surely Cynthia would have climbed Mt Coronet before and would look there for him if he left. As he thought of her, he remembered that she was still in the room with him. He looked up to see her face full of concern and worry.

"Are you OK?" she asked him, he tried to smile and reassure her but he couldn't, his mind still racing about where he could go.

"I've only told my sister about you and even then I told her I wasn't sure. Plus she's sworn not to tell anyone." She hurried through her sentences, desperately trying to get confirmation that everything was all right. It did little to console him though, he didn't know her or her family, she could be telling the truth or more likely, he thought, a good actor with a malevolent agenda.

"I'm sorry." He looked at her again noting the genuine tone of anguish in her voice. She had a forlorn expression on her face, her eyes looking down away from him. She brought her hands up and covered her face with them as she continued.

"God this is not how I imagined this would pan out. You're like the greatest trainer, the greatest hero the world has ever seen. And I've upset you. I'm really sorry, I swear I won't tell anyone else about you and I'll make sure my sister will keep this secret as well, no matter what. I just wanted to talk to you." The left hand side of his mouth rose upwards forming his traditional half smile. There was a lot of praise there, he wondered if she knew the truth whether she would give him the same amount.

He titled his head down towards his right shoulder again, weighing her up. She seemed genuine, maybe she was telling the truth, but it'd still be wrong to trust her. Yet he couldn't help but feel bad for upsetting her, it wasn't her fault that she had found out who he was, it wasn't her fault that he had caused so much pain. Slowly he raised his right arm, unsure as to whether he was doing the right thing, patting her back. She looked up at him, their eyes meeting. He smiled at her reassuringly, noticing how beautiful she was.

"Are we…Cool?" He nodded back at her making her grin broadly.

"Thanks. I really do mean that I won't tell anyone." They looked at each other for a few moments in silence. Usually when one these silences occurred, the other person who he was talking to would soon feel uncomfortable and fidget. But not this woman. She sat there silent and still, a small smile on her face almost statuesque. It unnerved him slightly; she was very similar to him.

"I think I'll take that food now." She broke the silence and G was relieved that he had something to do; he quickly gave her food and water which she eagerly tucked into. He continued to look at her, learning from her eating patterns that she had been brought up in a lady like fashion as she adhered to the formalities of eating a meal.

'_Yo G! You might want to quit staring at her. You look like a filthy perv!'_ He turned quickly to face Bob who was laughing his head off.

'_Stop being a cunt Bob, but G it is a bit weird. You're kinda staring at her a bit too much.'_ Lucy added. Vee jumped up onto his lap curly into a warm fuzzy ball.

'_Aah, leave him alone guys. It's cute.'_ All three of them sniggered at him; he in turn glared at them in return, though he started petting Vee lightly.

"How do you talk to your Pokémon?" he looked back at Cynthia who had finished her meal and was keenly studying them.

"It's obvious you're communicating with them, you look at each other too frequently for it to be anything else. Are you telepathic? You're not reading my mind right now are you?" she teased. She was partially right; his gang were able to share thoughts but only with each other (save for Mewtwo). It was something that they had happened long ago when their friendship had grown unbreakably strong. He weighed her up again, questioning whether she could be trusted or not.

'_What do you reckon guys? Is she trustworthy?'_ He asked the rest of them.

'_I don't know G. We hardly know anything about her, it's risky.'_ Lucy replied.

'_I think we can trust her G. I think she can help you.'_ Vee added, her last sentence delivered devilishly and so that only G could hear.

'_I think we should take a vote. I vote to have a vote!'_

'_Shut up Bob!' _ G stared at Cynthia again. He could get a good read on a person just by looking at them, but she was different. She was a mystery to him. Older than him yet less experienced. Happy but full of anger. Calm and in control of herself, while underneath he could tell her emotions were running wild. She smiled at him curiously, as he realised that he had yet to answer her.

"Thoughts." He said quickly.

"Huh?"

"We can hear each other thoughts."

"So you are telepathic?"

"No. I can only hear their thoughts."

"How does that work?"

"Not sure." He said as he shrugged his shoulders. It was honest to a point, it sort just happened with C and Pikka. Only after Mewtwo had joined them, did they really fully understand it and were able to teach the others how.

"Well I guess that it gives you a massive advantage when it comes to battles?" he nodded at her in confirmation. Once again a silence ensued but G felt more comfortable this time, the two looked at each other again oblivious to the Lucario and Blastoise leaving the room to get some food or the Eevee that had jumped onto Cynthia which she absent mindedly started to pet.

'_Guys what's C on about. Mewtwo and I could have gotten way more supplies….Oh'_ He looked back at the entrance as he saw first Pikka and then Mewtwo (holding the supply crate) enter the cave, their faces dropping when they saw her.

'_I did tell you guys that you were in for a surprise.'_ C entered the cave, walking past the two shocked Pokémon, giving short nods to Vee, G and Cynthia before going into the hot spring room to presumably get a drink and wash of some dirt.

'_Care to tell me what she's doing on my seat!'_ Pikka joked getting over his shock. He raced over to where the cap lay, putting it on before jumping on to G's shoulders ruffling up his hair and nibbling affectionately at his good ear. Mewtwo took of his brown cloak while he telekinetically placed the supply crate down. Walking over to the table; he took a seat getting out his thermos flask and cup, pouring himself some tea. Mewtwo stared at Cynthia while he sipped his tea before finally turning to G.

'_Obviously we don't want to know what the hell is going on now do we?' _ He asked sarcastically. As Bob, Lucy and C re-entered the main room they told them about what had happened so far. All the time that they were talking to each other, G noticed that Cynthia remained silent and still throughout taking in everything that was transpiring around her. Once they had finished filling them in, he turned his full attention back to her. She smiled back at him, as he gazed upon her, refusing to break the silence. He smiled back, he couldn't remember the last time he had been the one to break a silence.

"Why are you here?" he asked curiously.

"Quite a few reasons. But I have two main ones. I was hoping that I could train with you, and you kinda seemed…lonely and in need of a friend." He frowned slightly. Who in their right mind would want to train up here? As for being lonely, he had his closet friends surrounding him, what more could he want. She seemed to sense what he was thinking as she continued.

"I mean a human friend. With no disrespect to your Pokémon I think you might need human contact."

'_She hides something from us. She knows more.'_ Mewtwo interjected, tensions raised instantly as G asked Mewtwo for more.

'_Her intentions do not seem malicious. I do believe that she wants to train with us and she wants to help. In what way I cannot say, that part of her mind is muddled.'_ He trusted Mewtwo's judgement and he eased up a little.

'_So are we going to train with her or what? It'd be kinda cool to have new guys around, especially since you guys all smell bad.'_ Pikka added, jumping around onto C's head now, waving his arms around animatedly. G turned back her. She continued to pet Vee who was curled up into a ball deep in her lap, loving every second of it.

"Why?" She gave him a confused look, not understanding what he had said.

"Why what?"

"Train…here?"

"Like I said earlier, you're the greatest trainer ever. Me and my Pokémon would learn heaps from you. I could look after them better, train them better and learn new strategies. My team would learn more from you than I could ever teach them." He felt embarrassed from her flattery but was satisfied with her answer.

"When?"

"Oh well I was hoping that we could stay here for the next week or so. I don't really have a place to stay at the moment. So we could start tomorrow morning." This caught him of guard; he hadn't expected that she wanted to train so soon.

'_G, you're not going to say no to this nice young lady now are you? She has nowhere to stay, surely the gentlemanlike thing to do is to offer her a place to stay and your bed to sleep on.' _C thought to him in an amused tone. He glared at the Charizard. C was right of course, he couldn't exactly say no to her. So he nodded at her, she beamed as he did so.

"Thanks." The rest of the evening passed quickly, as the gang played board games and watched and laughed as Pikka managed to blow up his radio again. She sat next to him throughout that period before she rested her head against his shoulder soon falling asleep on it. He looked over at her. There was no other word for it, she was stunning. Her long blonde hair fell over her left eye. Delicately he carried her to his bed setting her to rest on it, and pulled a sheet over her. He looked at her graceful form as she slept before signalling that it was time to go to bed for everyone.

As he lay under C's wing, with Bob's snores filling the hot spring room, G could not fall asleep, his thoughts on Cynthia and his dream that he had not that long ago. Could it be the future? Could he be the cause for yet more deaths? She had forced her way into his life for the time being but he had to push her out of it. No good would come out of it if she stayed with him. He shivered as fear began to take hold of him, an emotion he hadn't felt for four years since their deaths. Quietly he made his way out of the cave, grabbing his hoodie as he did so. He made his way to the peak, unfazed by winds, hail or the cold as he sat down at their graves.

"I won't let it happen. I won't fail again." He said softly, a few tears falling down his cheeks. He stayed there alone, his mind blank as the winds and hail hit his face before he felt two warm objects against his back. He turned back to see Pikka and Vee snuggling up against him, Lucy not far behind as she placed a paw on his back. Bob and Mewtwo walked up and sat down either side of him as C flew down, covering the lot of them with his massive wingspan.

'_What's wrong G?' _Vee asked tentatively. He smiled at them, before he told them exactly what was on his mind. His dream and his fear of what might happen. They remained silent as he told them and remained silent after he had finished. Instead they snuggle in closer together, providing each other warmth and comfort. They sat there together until it became too cold even for them and they made their way back to the cave.

He woke her up early the next day. She was groggy and asked for more sleep. He persisted until she was wide awake, they had a short breakfast before they left the cave; he beckoned for her to follow him. In the morning he held a training session with her. Pushing her and her team to their limits and beyond. After lunch he sent them out on rounds accompanying his Pokémon as they searched for any stray trainers that had got caught up on the mountain. She was exhausted by the end of the day, but that was his plan. He hoped that she would find it too tiring and give up, leaving them, ensuring that his dream could not possibly happen. But instead it spurned her on; she kept pushing to get better.

He cursed her stubbornness to keep going and begrudgingly admired her will. Each day she grew on him more. She and her Pokémon had quickly made friends with his Pokémon, she had learnt their names already except for Mewtwo; she seemed fascinated with him, staring at him often making him feel uncomfortable and not having the courage to speak to him yet.

"He doesn't like being stared at." G told Cynthia after she had stared at Mewtwo yet again whilst they were having dinner.

"Sorry. I've just never seen or heard a Pokémon like that." She said sheepishly. G smiled at her, it wasn't time for her and Mewtwo to become friends just yet. Besides himself the only other person that Mewtwo had allowed to see his form was Leaf and even then it took a lot of time before she gained his trust.

"Could I ask what type of Pokémon it is?" He frowned at her slightly before looking over at Mewtwo, unsure what to do.

'_My name is Mewtwo.'_ He turned back to Cynthia who had a shocked look on her face.

"You're Psychic?

'_No this is just your mind playing tricks on you.'_ Mewtwo said sarcastically but in an amused tone.

'_Enough'_ he told Mewtwo.

'_Sorry bro. Sorry Cynthia, yes I am Psychic. I am the only Pokémon of my kind and only Red and yourself know about my existence. Can I trust you so that it remains that way?' _ Cynthia nodded slowly, still in shock over what had just transpired.

"Sorry about that." He said gently to her.

"No. Don't worry about it. Wow!" she said breathlessly. He smiled at her and then at Mewtwo. He himself was shocked that Mewtwo had chosen to reveal himself to her.

'_She's seen me already and she seems trustworthy enough.'_ Mewtwo had sensed what he had been thinking.

The days passed, while their routine during the day stayed the same, each day she and her team grew stronger. In the evenings while their Pokémon played with each other in the cave, they took to sitting with each other, sometimes in silence, other times with her telling him a bit about herself. He learnt about her grandparents and her sister, he thought it odd that she didn't mention her parents but he didn't press the matter, also he learnt that she was the current champion of Sinnoh. This took him a bit by surprise at first but then again it did make some sense, she was very strong. She also managed to get him to open up as well; she wanted to know about his journeys and adventures. At first he was able to dodge around the questions but eventually he gave in to a few fuelling her with yet more questions. He smiled ruefully whenever she pressed him for more answers.

A week had passed and she had fallen asleep on him again; she did this frequently, especially when they had a hard day of training. Once again he delicately carried her to his bed and placed her down, brushing her hair out from her face.

'_You fancy her bro.'_ He turned to C who had a massive grin on his face.

'_No I don't.'_ He thought a little too quickly.

'_From your elevated heart rate, the tone of your voice and the sweat coming of your brow; I'd say that you do.'_ Mewtwo replied. Bob and Pikka bust out laughing and began to tease him, while Vee and Lucy looked at him affectionately.

'_I think it's sweet.'_ Vee thought.

'_I deem her worthy enough for you G.'_ Lucy added. Was it true, did he have a crush on Cynthia? Yes she was beautiful, and he liked being around her. The only other person he had liked being around was Leaf. Cynthia was like Leaf, a friend nothing more. He tried to convince himself that was all she was but it wasn't quite right, Leaf was like his sister, Cynthia wasn't. He glared at his Pokémon as they all grinned at him.

'_I do not have a crush on her!'_ He told them, but they laughed back making him glare more furiously at them before he went to bed. He thought about Cynthia as he lay, was he falling for her? And what about that dream, was it beginning to become true? The next day their training session was interrupted when Cynthia received a call.

"You get signal up here?" she asked him, surprised that she did. He shrugged his shoulders, he didn't own a phone. He walked away so that she could have some privacy while she talked on the phone, but he watched her from a distance, her long blonde hair blowing in the wind. She ended the call and walked over to him, an odd expression on her face.

"That was the League. They need me to get back to Sinnoh ASAP." She said sadly.

"Oh." He said quietly. His face was stone like giving nothing away but inside he was hurting. He didn't want her to leave so soon but then again maybe it was for the best. He remembered his dream, maybe this was a blessing in disguise, this would distance them and prevent that possible future from happening.

"Could I get a ride down on C?" she asked her tone still full of sadness. He nodded, and called for C. They waited in silence for the Charizard to arrive until Cynthia reached into her backpack taking something out.

"This is my spare Pokégear." She said as she handed him the object.

"I'll call you on it." She blushed as she realised what she had said.

"Or you can call me." She blushed again becoming very flustered now.

"You know whatever. I'll see you soon." As C landed she got on, turning back as C took of again waving at G. He retuned it with a small smile on his face.

"I hope you do." He said quietly to himself.

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**AN:Hope you guys enjoyed it. I actually wrote the first few hundred words the same time as my previous chapter, I've just didn't have the time to finish it. My other longer chapters (chaps 6 and 9) came very easily to me whereas this one came in fits and spurts, and I not quite sure what to make of it. **

**So please rate and review. I really need feedback to decide which route to take this story down. Also could you guys pick two Pokemon for a trainer that will appear later in the story (I've already chosen 4 that will be part of his team but i'm struggling to pick the other two).**

**Cheers!**


	12. Ding Zui

**AN: I'm back! Sorry I couldn't get this out sooner, been very busy. Work has been quite a handful, I was trying to get this out a couple of days ago but circumstances led to a delay. Unfortunately I won't be able to update for another couple of weeks as I got exams this week and the week after(fml), sorry! But anyway on with the story.**

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For a second time Cynthia found herself on a ship looking back at Mt Silver. The last time she was here, she slightly missed the life on the mountain. But this time it was more than just missing that life, it was longing. Longing to be back wondering around that mountain, longing to be training with those incredible Pokémon and most of all longing to be back in Red's company. She cursed the league for taking her away from him; things had been going excellently.

Her original plan had been to help him and in some small way she thought she had, during their time together he had slowly began to open up to her, talking more, telling her some of his adventures and how his life was on the mountain. But she couldn't help feel that he had helped her more. She had learnt many new battling techniques from him, her Pokémon had grown stronger from the intense training and the harsh living conditions; he taught her which plants could substitute for medicine and how to heal and soothe injuries when there were none. Most importantly though was how easy it was being around him, it was almost as if he was family. She could tell him nearly everything about herself to him and she did, telling him about her journeys and how she became champion. Perhaps she had told him too much too soon (she made sure not to tell him about her father, she was not sure if she would ever tell him about her father) but it was just so easy to. Even the silences were golden; she recalled staring into those deep brown eyes with a tint of red. They were cold yet danced like fire. They were calm yet full of intensity. They were young but seemed tired and weary.

Without thinking she took out her Pokégear, navigated to the phone section and dialled in a number. It rang a couple of times before it was picked up. She knew who it was straight away from as she heard the breaths from the other end. There was silence for a few moments, just their breaths could be heard, as she couldn't think of what to say and neither it seemed could the other.

"Hey Red?" she asked nervously.

"Hey." She smiled warmly as she heard the familiar soft yet powerful voice answer her. Just through hearing his voice, she could picture him. Sitting of his little bed stroking Vee on his lap. Pikka near by still trying to fix that radio, Lucy working out while Bob made fun of her. Mewtwo at the table sipping his tea while C would be stretching out his wings and reading a newspaper that he had 'borrowed' from the newsagents in Silver Town last night. And her, sitting next to him, her head on his shoulder, silent and still, giving each other warmth, enjoying each others company. She blushed, embarrassed and her little fantasy and became flustered as she realised she had been silent for a bit too long.

"Errr, so…. Uhm… I was just checking that this is working." It was poor excuse she knew and it was returned by more silence but she mentally pictured Red nodding at her and smiling that traditional half smile.

"So I'm on the boat back to Sinnoh now. It shouldn't take too long to get there and hopefully whatever they want me for shouldn't take too long. So I'll be back soon." She said, this time she got a reply.

"Good." After this the two were again in silenced, not knowing what to say to each other.

"Well I guess this is goodbye again."

"Okay." She didn't end the call and from the breaths that she could hear, neither had he. She chuckled as she continued.

"This is the part where we end the call."

"Hmm."

"Talk to you soon Red. Bye."

"Bye." She ended the call. _'Wait did he say good when I said I'd be back soon?'_ She giggled for a while; she couldn't believe it she was acting like a little schoolgirl. Thankfully there was no one around to see her; her face had turned as red as a cherry. Red. Just thinking the word sent shivers down her spine. She decided to retire back to her room lest she do anything truly embarrassing.

The rest of the journey passed by surprisingly quickly seeing that she spent it all in her room tending to her Pokémon and thinking about Red. As she departed the ferry she saw a government car parked opposite and standing next to it a tall slightly balding man in black suit. The man caught her gaze and started to walk towards her, she did likewise until the two of them were within talking distance.

"Miss Cynthia I am to escort you to Number Ten." She was shocked. Number Ten was the house where the prime minister of Sinnoh lived, though the league took care of all matters Pokémon, the prime minister ran the region, he was in essence the most important man in the entire region. What could he possibly want from her? She had taken care of problems for the league, but for the government? What could she possibly do for them?

"May I ask…" she was unable to finish her question before the man cut her of.

"I'm sorry Miss but I do not have any of the information that you require. But I must insist that we leave immediately, it was made most clear to me that this is a matter of utmost urgency." He motioned for her to follow him to the car where he opened the rear door for her. She got in, intrigued further as to what this matter was. The man drove the car rather quickly turning on some sirens so that traffic would get out of their way. In hardly any time at all they reached Number Ten. The door was opened for her and the man led her towards her destination.

It was very easy to miss Number Ten at first glance; it wasn't a remarkable building at all. The street that it was on was cluttered with grey-black terraced houses, Number Ten was just one of the many, standing about a third of the way down the street. The only remarkable thing about it was that a single policeman stood outside guarding the entrance. She smiled ruefully, she knew that this was the not the full extent of the prime minister's protection. Ever since the end of the war the defence service had made the protection of key people its number one priority. There were probably agents all over the place hiding away on the look out for anything suspicious. She scanned the top of the buildings as she recalled rumours that snipers were posted there, always ready to take out any potential threats.

As she was lead in, she was amazed. It seemed as though it was bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. The rooms were wide and spacious, the walls pure white with not even a single spec of dust on them. There were chandeliers hanging down from the ceiling and magnificent works of art hung on the walls. All around her were people of varying age and height. Each it seemed had a different role to play in the running of the day to day activities that went on in this house. Finally she was led to an office. In contrast to the rest of the house it was small and unremarkable; it had green walls and papers cluttered around it. Near the window though was the most magnificent desk she had ever seen and behind it sat a man who looked in his late forties. He had greying brown hair with turquoise eyes and almost comically large ears either side of his head. She knew exactly who this person was, David Brown the prime minister of Sinnoh.

"Ah Cynthia, how are you? First time we've met, I must say how delightful it is to finally meet the best trainer in the region. And hopefully soon the best in the world, eh?" he extended out a hand which she took. She had always though of Mr Brown as a bit of an idiot, a lot of his policies had not made any sense what so ever. But the thing he had in abundance was charm and charisma, he was legendary at being able to divert even the hardest questions and bring his point across easily.

"Thank you Jonathon that will be all." The man who had led Cynthia thus far bowed before making his way out of the office closing the doors behind him. Mr Brown gestured for her to take seat in front of the desk before offering her a drink which she politely refused.

"Well Cynthia I guess you must be wondering why I have brought you here." He said as he poured himself some wine into an expensive looking goblet. She nodded in response.

"I'll get straight into it, there was a fire in Azcatraz. There were four casualties, three prisoners and one guard." Cynthia was stunned but confused at the same time, what did this have to do with her? Mr Brown sensing her confusion continued on.

"There is one prisoner unaccounted for though."

"Who?"

"Hector Kenich." Her mouth fell open. It stayed like that for a few moments while her shock slowly gave way to anger. She clenched her teeth together, restraining herself from venting her fury. Fortunately Mr Brown did not seem to notice the change in her mood.

"I have my best people working on finding him but I believe that you might be better placed and more motivated to find him." Her anger subsided a little, intrigued as to why he thought she would be better than trained professionals at finding someone. Once again Mr Brown seemed to sense her confusion.

"I know that you've changed your surname Cynthia, I know that he is your father. Of all people I think that you would know where he could possibly go." She frowned in response before getting up and heading for the exit, she stopped just as she reached the door. She didn't turn back to address him.

"I'll get him."

She first went to Azcatraz to learn how her father could have possibly escaped. The guards were at loss as to how it could have happened but Cynthia could smell that something was not right. No one knew exactly how the fire had started, the only possible explanation was that there might have been a minor gas leak but there was no credible evidence to prove this. The next was how he had gotten out. There was no sign of forced exit, anywhere near his cell but what was odd was his bed. It was at an odd angle, as though it pushed aside slightly. The guards said that was probably the way he had liked it but she wasn't so sure, it seemed to her it had only be moved recently.

She asked for the CCTV footage during the fire but she was disappointed to learn that most of the tape had been burnt and was un-watch able. Nevertheless she watched as much as she could. There had been one visitor that day, a woman in her mid thirties with silver hair. She was told that she was a lawyer for one the prisoners that had died today. Cynthia was sure this woman was key to how her father had escaped she wasn't sure how, she just had a gut feeling that she was connected.

Cynthia left, unsure what to do next. Truthfully she didn't know where her father would have gone to; the only places that came to mind were childhood memories. Places where he had taken her to have fun, just him, her, Carla and her mother. Tears formed in her eyes as she recalled those memories, they were happy but so painful at the same time. She decided to return home for the day, she was in no state to look anymore for her father.

When she got to Celestic town, she didn't head straight home, instead going to the cemetery stopping at a particular grave. She sat down and read the caption on the tombstone. 'Here lies Helena Kenich. A brilliant daughter, a loving wife and doting mother.' Her mother had died when she was just eleven from a ruptured brain aneurysm. She had gotten over her mother's death since then as had her grandparents while Carla had been too little to fully understand what had happened at the time. Her dad had been affected the worse by her passing; he went into isolation, endlessly training, to the point of neglecting both Carla and herself. _'Did you know mum? Did you know he would become such a monster?'_

Cynthia stayed there for a few minutes before finally returning home. She didn't tell her grandparents or Carla about what had happened, she didn't want to cause them any pain or stress but it meant that she felt alone. There was no one to talk to, absentmindedly she got out her Pokégear and called Red. It cheered her up hearing his voice again, she asked him about how he and his Pokémon were (he as usual gave very short sentences) but after a while they were talking about her. She wasn't sure how he had done it but she was talking about her day and how she needed to find a person who had escaped Azcatraz. She didn't tell him that it was her father or that it was Hector Kenich and thankfully he didn't ask. Instead he tried to help by suggesting places to look and encouraging her that she would be able to do it. They continued on, talking about various things until both felt sleepy. Cynthia went to bed much happier than she had been just a few hours ago.

The next couple of weeks Cynthia spent the time searching for her father, she looked everywhere he could have possibly have gone to and even to places that no normal person could get to. But his was nowhere to be found. With each passing day she knew her chances of finding him dwindled. It depressed her greatly but she wasn't unhappy. At the end of each day just before she went to bed she would call Red. It was the highlight of each day, she would tell him more and more about herself and in turn he gave useful tips and slowly he told more about his journeys.

She had gotten him to talk about his rivalry with Blue and the two of them had joked about him. And even if he hadn't said her name at least he had mentioned Leaf in passing. Yet this final thing did not make Cynthia feel as happy as the others. She was pleased that they were making progress but she also felt annoyance; annoyance and slight bit of dislike towards Leaf. She was shocked at herself; you should never dislike the dead, especially when others had given nothing but high praise for them. Cynthia tried to understand her feelings, was she annoyed that Red paid more attention to Leaf than to her? Wait was she falling for Red? She thought a little to herself before speaking her thoughts aloud.

"I think you've already fallen for him Cynthia."

"Fallen for who?" She turned to see Carla enter her room and bound onto her bed. She groaned and cursed herself for talking aloud.

"So who is he?" Carla asked her wide eyed in anticipation.

"No body!" she tried to sound convincing but from Carla's wicked smile she knew she had failed, she glared back at Carla.

"C'mon sis, since when do we keep secrets from each other." Cynthia continued to glare at her little sister refusing to speak another word to her.

"Well it's obviously the guy to call every night. It isn't Flint is it?"

"WHAT?!"

"You know you always criticize him, I thought maybe you liked him, you know tell a boy how much you don't like them to make them like you more."

"That's just stupid."

"Hmmm, let's see you started making these calls ever since you got back from Kanto so that must mean that you met the guy in Kanto…." Carla tailed in thought before yet another wicked smile spread on her face.

"It's your mystery man isn't it?" Cynthia aimed a pillow at her little sister who expertly dodged, before running out the room laughing. She retrieved her pillow before lying back down on her bed. She really did like Red, a lot.

The next day she was wandering across the bridge on Route 208 when she noticed something in water. She brought out Milotic and asked her to retrieve it. To her horror she found that it was body. Immediately she shouted out for the help from people in the berry master's house as she took a closer look at the person. She turned the person over immediately recognising who it was. Her dad was dead.

Cynthia was outside the hospital in Hearthome City trying to call her family. They had the right to know what had happened but none of them were answering their phones. She sighed as she gave up; turning her thoughts to the post mortem. Her dad had not drowned as she had initially thought. Instead he had died a couple of days ago from repeated blows to the back of the head. He had been murdered and not just that, he had been tortured before this as well. His fingernails and toenails had been ripped out, his knuckles broken, his lips had been cut, there were signs of electrocution and he had more broken bones than she could count. It was obvious that he had been in considerable pain when he had died. Though she could still not forgive him, Cynthia did not wish anything like this to befall him. He was still her dad after all. Both her parents were now dead, she needed to be with her remaining family now.

As she made her way back, thoughts entered her mind. Why had her dad been tortured? Initially she thought it was some hate crime for the things that he had done that gone too far, but the more she thought about it the more it seemed that this was pre planned and somehow connected to the prison fire. She couldn't place it but something wasn't right, she squirmed a little from the uncomforted it caused her.

Finally she reached Celestic Town and her house; the lights were on inside meaning that her family were home. Why had they not answered her calls? She knocked on the door expecting them to let her in. No answer, she tried again and again but still no answer. Now very worried she reached for her keys, unlocked the door and went inside. Almost immediately as she entered, she felt something hit her on the side of her head; she was unconscious before she hit the floor.

She woke up as a liquid was splashed into her face. It took a moment for her get a grip of her surroundings, her head was still spinning from whatever had hit her. She tried to move her arms and legs but couldn't as she found herself bound to a chair. She looked up to see a huge hulking man with an iron mask over his face standing in front her holding a bucket. To her left she could see her family, they were bound and gagged, fear gripped their faces. From behind the hulking figure stepped forth a woman. The woman from the CCTV footage. The silver haired woman drew out a small torch, forcing Cynthia's eyelids open she turned the torch on and directed the beam into her eyes. Cynthia's eyes watered as the light shone in to them. It felt like hours before the woman finally turned the torch of and turned to someone else in the room.

"She's fine."

"Thank you J." Cynthia gasped as a thin man came out from behind the hulking figure. He was thin, had pearly white hair and violet eyes. He had aged considerably, but she there was no mistaking who this was.

"Impossible." Cynthia said near silently. The man chucked as he approached her, drawing a chair so that he could sit in front of her.

"Improbable not impossible my dear Cynthia or should I say Miss Kenich." She glared at him as she used her real surname but he merely laughed it of.

"I suppose you must be wondering how and why I am in your house?" he asked her still chuckling to himself.

"Actually I'm wondering why you're not rotting in jail dickhead." She replied defiantly but he continued to grin at her.

"Tut tut my dear, your father would be most displeased with your language." He said in a mock tone of disappointment.

"You have a lot to learn about the world and people little girl. It's not a very nice place at all, and nobody is incorruptible. Everyone has a price, be it money, threats or favours no one is above it all. All it takes is find what dives people. Do you really think that someone with my wealth and power could have been sent to jail in the first place? All it took was a bit of '_ding zui'_ and hey presto I don't serve any jail time." She looked up at him confused she had never heard that term before. He sighed in resignation as he saw the look on her face.

"You're as stupid as Hector was. Ding zui is when you employ someone to take some jail time for you. In my case I paid for a full body plastic surgery, so that he'd look exactly like me. And before you ask why my DNA scan didn't show up any difference, well I ask you who built the DNA scanning machine?" he giggled verging on the manic side, giddy at his own brilliance. Cynthia glared at him trying with all her might to break free of her bonds, the cut into her skin as she struggled; she gasped a little as she drew blood. She looked around and saw her bag near the chair she was sitting on. If she could get there she could push it open hopefully releasing one of her Pokémon.

"Your Pokémon are not in your bag, they are in your vault along with the rest of your family's Pokémon, stored there for safe keeping. I'll think I'll use them as one for some of my experiments." She spat at him. He pulled out a hanky and wiped the spit of his face, he was still smiling as finished but now the smile was full of evil intentions.

"Hunter if you please." The hulking figure in the iron mask stepped towards her and punched her in the kidney. Cynthia let out a whelp of pain, it felt like a ton of bricks had hit her. Before she had a chance to recover two more blows landed, one to her stomach, the other just below her sternum, knocking all the wind out of her.

"Thank you Hunter. Now if you and J could please escort Cynthia's family away." As they took her family away he moved closer towards her.

"These past four years I've had to lie low, they took away the majority of my fortune when Red defeated me but I've managed to slowly build it back up again. It's been my primary concern these years but I've also kept a keen eye on Azcatraz, just in case anyone came snooping around and got too close. You can imagine my surprise when the champion came to talk to Hector.

I was intrigued as to what you talked about, I had to find out. I could go into detail about how I tortured you father but I think that's for another day. You can imagine my surprise to learn that he was your father now that would be a scandal, champion is mass murders daughter. But that doesn't really concern me, you asked about Red, why?" She gave him a look of death, there was no way she would say anything to him. He laughed back at her and continued on.

"It's obvious to me that you know something about Red hence why I'm here. I must say that your grandparents were not very helpful; they don't seem to know anything at all. But your sister well what can I say, the innocence of youth I guess. She really cares for your grandparents; all it took was one threat for her to spill everything she knew." Cynthia gritted her teeth and desperately tried to break free again this time paying no attention to the pain.

"Cynthia please stop struggling. It makes you far less attractive." He raised his hand and with surprising strength forced her back down onto her chair where she was unable to move.

"You know your father said you were beautiful, and I haven't been with a beautiful woman for a long time." He whispered into her ear before he kissed her neck and then licked her cheek. He began to grope her while he continued to kiss and lick her cheek and ear. Cynthia tried everything she could to force him of her but he was too strong for her. He moved his hands down slowly, making sure to stroke, grip and feel every part of her body. Cynthia wailed out in anger as he teased her, nearing her womanhood. Suddenly there was ringing noise coming out from her bag. He stopped and got of her, he took out the Pokégear looking at it before grinning back at Cynthia. He turned the speaker on.

"Cynthia? ….. You didn't call." She groaned as she heard the familiar soft voice.

"Hello Red! Long time no see. How have you been? Still keeping my shard safe for me? Well there's no need now. Bring it to Celestic Town Sinnoh, I'll text you the address and I'll promise not to desecrate Cynthia, too much." There were tears running down Cynthia's face as he ended the call.

"He'll beat you. He'll beat you again." she murmured but he laughed it of again.

"Your good at history Cynthia, tell me the tale of the nameless boy." She looked up at him confused, why did he want to be told a myth?

"Tell me."

"Long ago there was time when man thought Pokémon were incarnations of angels and demons. All Pokémon were wild then, there was no such thing as trainers. But a man found an object that could bend both Pokémon and man to his will. It gave unimaginable power. Those who could resist were mercilessly cast aside, it seemed as though he was unstoppable. But a young boy stood up against him. The boy was an outcast, no one knew where had come from, and they couldn't ask because he was a mute; they didn't even know his name. He had jet black hair and crimson eyes said to cold yet blazed like fire at the same time. But this boy was able to become friends with Pokémon; he had six closet Pokémon who followed him everywhere. Together the seven were able to stand up to the man, defeating him. The boy became the first Pokémon trainer and the first master, the reason why we carry six Pokémon is because of his six friends." As Cynthia finished recalling the myth she noted the striking similarities between the story and what had happened between Red and Sektor.

"When I was first told the tale I thought it was a myth, a tale to amuse children, but now it seems that some parts could be true. It is surprising just how similar Red and the nameless boy are, both came from nowhere, both seemingly had no parents, both extraordinary with Pokémon, Red is near enough a mute as well. Then of course there is the object. Over the years there have been many tales concerning objects that give almost unlimited power. What was there before our universe was created Cynthia?" Cynthia was confused at his change in topic but answered him nevertheless.

"Boundless energy of chaos…"

"Exactly, chaos. Those small objects that gave power were in fact the same object, a shard of chaos. No one knows how it came to be on earth just that its power potential is incredible, when it was in my possession I taped into less than a percent of it." Cynthia smirked at him.

"If it's so powerful, how come Red beat you, he can do it again. His Pokémon are even stronger than before." He chuckled again, amused by the fight still left in her.

"You might recall that my machines drew their power from the life-force of Pokémon, the shard also does this to some extent fuelling its own power, and it can bend the weak of mind to serve its master. If I were to fully utilise the power of it there is no way Red can stop me. And besides Red can't use the same method to beat me again. Tell me Cynthia did you see how many scars Red had?" Cynthia nodded unsure as to where he was going with this.

"About five percent of those were from his travels I'd say. I caused about thirty percent. The rest he did to himself." Cynthia frowned she did not think Red was a self harmer and what has this got to do with how Red beat him.

"The way the nameless boy was able to conquer the oppressor was the same way Red defeated me. Their bonds with their Pokémon are so great that they were able to channel their own life-force into their Pokémon. I shocked that Red was able to do it, the life-force of humans is stronger than that of a Pokémon's but far, far less stable hence we are not able to control it. But he can't do it again." He laughed evilly. Cynthia felt nervous, he seemed very confident.

"Red is a broken. He will never fully recover from that girl's death. And now he will soon meet his own death." Again he laughed wickedly, Cynthia was now truly concerned, how could he get to Red. He seemed to sense what she was thinking and explained to her his plan.

"I know Red better than anyone else. He blames himself for that girl's death at the hands of your father. He won't want your blood on his hands now will he? He'll come, leaving his Pokémon behind. He'll ask for you to be set free before he hands over the shard. He'll be alone then with no protection. Then I'll kill him." He finished as he pulled out a gun.

* * *

**AN:Hope you enjoyed it, I was going to have Sektor rape Cynthia but I couldn't bring myself to write it. I also added a few real world references, some a bit more obvious than others, if you can get them all, leave them in a review or PM me.**

** As usual rate, review and subscribe.**

**Cheers!**

**92fd**


	13. Red's Journey

**AN: Finally 92fd is back with another chapter! So I finished my exams this past Thursday :D wish me luck for my results! (get them in a couple of weeks) I was trying to get this out yesterday but it kind of went on for bit longer than I planned. This chapter was in some ways easier to write as its been in my head for quite a while but harder in the sense of which direction I was trying to take it in. Anyways read, enjoy and I don't own Pokemon!**

* * *

'_G?'_ He had sat silently for almost tem minutes now hi mind blank up until Vee had tentatively called his name. He looked down to see the Eevee and Pikachu nuzzling his legs. He studied the rest of the room, the rest of his Pokémon were staring at him with concerned looks on their faces. He didn't bother to try and fake a smile; they could sense his thoughts and what had been going through his mind though he tried to keep it from them. Quickly, he stood up, grabbing his hoodie he made for the exit, stopping just before as he sensed them following him.

'_I…I need some time…' _They didn't make a sound but he could feel their hurt and anguish, they wanted to comfort and be there for him but he needed to be by himself. He needed time to clear his head, time alone to decide on what needed to be done. He made his way out the exit, pulling his hoodie on as the icy cold greeted him. Slowly he made his way to the summit, letting muscle memory dictate where his feet went.

Finally his feet stopped, and he fell down onto his knees in front of their graves. G knelt there in silence for what felt like hours before looking up into the heavens. He raised his fists above his head before extending out his middle fingers. Screaming out, he cursed all the deities that he could think of, pleading for one of them to end his pitiful existence. Once he had run out of deities to curse he moved on to Sektor. He pounded the snow and ice that surrounded him, wishing with every fibre in his being that Sektor had never existed; he wished that Sektor would just die. No, he wished that Sektor would die a long, slow and painful death at his own hands. He pounded the ice one more time as energy sapped out of him. A tear rolled down his cheek while his knuckles were red and sore. He panted, trying to regain his breath as he turned his thought to the person he knew he should be blaming.

'_It's my fault. Everyone that you get close to gets hurt in some way! You knew this yet you let her get close. Why didn't you push her away? Why didn't you move when you had the chance? Why Red? Now… It'll be just like your dream… You're going to screw up again… Everyone will die because of you!' _He got a second wind of energy as he spoke to himself. Once he again he pounded away at the ground, breaking away the ice and snow revealing the hardened rocks underneath. The millennia old rocks were sharp and cut his fists as he hit them, but he didn't care; he pushed aside the pain and continued, determined that they would break before him.

Finally he stopped; falling onto his back. He closed his eyes as he brought himself back under control. But no matter how much he tried emptying his mind, thoughts about previous and future failures kept creeping in. Images of Saur, Snorlax and Leaf were at the forefront of his mind; their stricken bodies lay out in front of him. Behind them were fuzzy images but he could still recognise them. Almost exactly like the images from dream, the rest of his closet friends lay unmoving and bloodied. He heard their cold voices calling out to him. Questioning what had happened to them, why they were in so much pain and why he was not with them.

A new face entered his mind. It was familiar, but one he had not seen for at least ten years. A woman in her late twenties to early thirties looked back at him. She had jet black hair and deep brown eyes with a tint of crimson. She smiled at him; it was a warm and comforting smile that made G feel a little better.

"Redmond." Her voice was soft yet powerful. It made G feel at home but at the same time feel ashamed of what he was now.

"Hey mum." She smiled wider as he replied to her. Slowly she made her way over to him before she knelt down beside him. They stared into each other's eyes, the same deep brown with a tint of crimson eyes. They didn't need words to tell how much they loved each other and how much they missed each other. She raised her hand up and cupped his cheek. He felt the warmth of her hand rub against cheek, stark comparison to the icy cold that had surrounded him. Finally she broke the silence.

"I'm so proud of you." He chuckled slightly in response, unsure of himself.

"Really?" He asked breathlessly, he couldn't believe what she had said.

"Yes. Look at what you've done. I couldn't wish for a better son." He smiled back at her and leaned in closer as she hugged him. He felt her warm body and breathed deeply, he felt as though he was home. Once again they were in silence, just sitting and hugging each other, giving one another warmth as protection against the mountain. This time Red was the one to break the silence.

"Mum. What if I….?" She hugged him tighter, knowing what he was trying to ask.

"You won't let anything bad happen again. I know it. You won't let him hurt them." She spoke quietly yet assertively. It filled him with confidence, something he had lost four years ago. He smiled broadly at her before it turned blank as he saw tears forming in her eyes. He was puzzled for a few seconds but then it hit him. He knew there was only one way to protect his friends now.

"Does it hurt?" He asked uncertainly. It was not the pain that scared him; he had suffered many physical injuries not to mention the psychological scars that plagued him. No, it was the final-ness of it that scared him. It was in his nature to soldier on. He was an island in the middle of the ocean battered by the fury of the relentless waves, only to remain, standing tall in defiance.

"No. It's like falling asleep, only faster." She smiled at him as he nodded back at her in understanding. He leaned in again, resting his head against her shoulder. Time seemed to pass them by, G wished that this moment would last forever; that they could becomes like stones locked together on this eternal mountain. But it couldn't last; she stirred and kissed him on the forehead.

"I have to go Redmond. But I'll be with you every step of the way." She kissed him on the forehead again before she let and stood up. She turned and started to walk away before G called out to her.

"Wait! Is this real? Or going on in my head?" She turned back to him and laughed sweetly.

"Oh my son, of course this is going on in your head. But that doesn't make it any less real." She waved at him before she disappeared.

G opened his eyes, a mixture of confusion and elation etched his face. He was still lying on his back letting snow and ice hit him. What had just happened to him? Was that real? He chuckled to himself, perhaps he'll never know, or maybe he soon will. He smiled as he stood up, he knew what he had to do, and all that was left was to plan it. He started to walk back to his cave, twirling the brown shard connected to his silver chain as he planned how he would accomplish his next goal. Half way to his cave he stopped and realised something.

'_Shit! I should have asked her what G stands for!'_ He ruffled his hair and smiled ruefully, the chance to solve his greatest mystery had slipped him by, but he laughed out loud. Maybe some things are better left as a mystery.

Finally he made it back into his cave; he smiled at the sight that greeted his eyes. His best friends were getting ready to leave to the cave. He wasn't shocked; he knew that they would follow him even if he asked them to stay. He glanced over at Lucy; the warrior Pokémon was had tidied her things into a neat pile and was now doing some last minute weight training.

* * *

"Thanks. You really helped me out"

"Was no problem at all." Leaf replied cheerily, making a V sign with her hand. Red simply nodded at the blue haired man. He had hoped that dealing with these criminals on Iron Island would help with his training. After all he would be about to compete in his first World Tournament, but they proved no challenge, in fact challenges were starting to become hard to come by. Only Blue, Leaf and Lance at a stretch could make him work hard now, he had hoped that by coming to Sinnoh to compete in the PWT that he would find even stronger trainers. The region had been fun to enjoy but none of the trainers he had met were anywhere near his level.

"Listen I have a Pokémon Egg here. Would you like to take it with you?" Red jolted back to reality, looking at the egg, which was blue and black in colour, and then back at the man. Red half smiled; he had been offered many eggs on his journeys for helping people out, it made him wonder why people would give away Pokémon, perhaps they couldn't look after them or maybe for another reason all together.

"I'd like to show the Pokémon that's inside the Egg all sorts of new places." Red frowned slightly though not enough for the man to see. _'Well why don't you take that Pokémon and show the world to it!'_ he thought and besides he really didn't have time to be looking after a young hatchling, he had a championship to win.

"Of course we'll take it!" Red looked over to his left, what had Leaf just said? The blue haired man handed over the egg, before speaking again.

"Spending time with you was very enjoyable. I intend to test my skills in other places from now on. Let's meet again! Take care on the way out." And with that the blue haired man left. _'And people say I'm weird!'_ Red thought to himself.

"So Red which one of us keeps the egg?" Red looked back at Leaf who held the egg in her hands, he shrugged at first before motioning with his head that she should keep it.

"You took care of most the grunts though. Plus I think it's what you're looking for." Red frowned at her, how could he be looking for a simple egg. Leaf laughed at him.

"Ok how bout we flip for it?" Red nodded in agreement.

"Head's you win. Tails I loose." Before Red could process what she had said she flipped a coin and caught it again.

"Tails I loose." She sighed and had a look of disappointment on her face, though Red was unsure. Leaf was his best friend, almost a sister, yet sometimes he couldn't tell if it was an act or actually genuine. She handed him the egg her face changing into a grin, she winked before dashing back out.

* * *

Leaf always had a funny ability to second guess things. The little Riolu that had hatched out had been one hell of a challenge. G laughed silently to himself as looked at Lucy. She had instantly wanted to spar with his championship team despite being a small hatchling. She threw herself recklessly at anything and got very emotional whenever she lost. He grinned at her; she had been on hell of a challenge and now look how far she had come.

He turned his attention to Vee; she was like a strobe light as she changed colour, shape and size. She became a Jolteon, Vaporeon, Flareon, Leafeon and finally an Umbreon all in the space of just six seconds. His face turned to stone as he remembered how they first met.

* * *

Pikka was atop Red's shoulder looking around nervously. Even Red himself felt a little nervous. They had entered this secret basement of the Game Corner two hours ago but it felt like they had been there for months. The number of Rockets here was higher than he had ever experienced and he was beginning to run low items now.

"So then Doctor, is it a viable option?" Red and Pikka froze as they heard the voice. They dropped down to find cover; slowly they peered out so that they could get a better look. There were two men standing at a counter. One was clearly a Rocket albeit wearing a much more expensive looking uniform, the other was wearing a white lab coat, he appeared to be a scientist.

"We've done too much damage to it now. It cannot be used in combat. We should breed it and produce another one, the genetics of the offspring produced to be the same as the parent thus we wouldn't have to experiment upon the specimen again."

"And once we have the offspring."

"You can dispose of this one." Red and Pikka tried to get a better view of what was on the counter, they could see something brown but not much else. Suddenly Pikka slipped of Red's shoulder and fell onto the floor.

"Pikka!" Red sighed and frowned at Pikka as his friend made his annoyance of falling off felt. Sure enough the scientist and the Rocket had heard and had now spotted them. Red frowned at Pikka again for alerting them; Pikka returned a cheeky grin and a small fist pump, eager to battle yet again.

"Hmmm, interesting, I heard that there was an intruder about. From the reports I heard that it was some incredibly strong trainer, but here I find nothing more than a kid." Red said nothing, blanking the Rocket in response. It seemed to unnerve him. He released a Golbat out from a Pokéball.

"Take the specimen back to the vault; I will deal with this pup!" The scientist grabbed the brown thing and took of, disappearing from sight. Red remained silent; simply nodding at Pikka.

The battle didn't last too long; Pikka single handily was able to sweep the Rocket's entire team, his superior speed too much for them. Pikka was beginning to breathe heavier and they got lost more often. They ran into more and more Rockets each one stronger than the last. But then Red finally made it. He came face to face with Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket. They battled, it was the hardest battle Red had yet faced, far more difficult than any Gym battle yet and far more stressful. But a combination of Saur and Bob were able to finally beat him. The rockets disappeared from view as Red victoriously made his back.

But he didn't go straight back out, he heard screams coming from a room. Screams of a Pokémon in pure agony. He had to find out what was going on. Pikka and Red followed the sounds until they were presented with a locked room. In no mood to find a key, he summoned Snorlax to break the door down, recalling the massive Pokémon as it did so. Red gasped at the sight before him. A brown Pokémon the likes of which he had never seen before was on some kind of plinth, wires had been forcefully attached to it and these wires connected the Pokémon to a battery. Behind the battery stood the scientist from before. A look of concern on his face as he stared at Red.

"Please, I was just following orders! All experiments have to be destroyed before we leave. Please! Please don't….." The scientist was cut of a Pikka shocked him, knocking him out. They made their way over to the Pokémon, though very weak it tried to get away from them, recoiling as they touched it, unplugging the wires that were attached.

Red scooped it into his arms, it tried to retaliate, scratching and biting but it was too weak to continue. They ran out as quickly as they could hoping that in they could get to the Pokémon Centre in time. Soon they made their way out of the Game Corner and Red looked down to check on the Pokémon. It was looking up frightened to its core, but it wasn't looking at him, in fact it was trying to bury itself deeper into Red's arms. It was looking at the sky. Red then realised what it was scared of. This was the first time it had ever seen the sky.

* * *

A back glint from the bookcase caught his eye as he looked away from Vee, he focused in on it. He smiled as he recognised it immediately. Diamond shaped sunglasses. They had gathered quite a bit of dust and he was surprised that they were still in one piece. He supposed Bob had kept them to remind him of his younger Squirtle days as they were much too small for him now.

* * *

Red had just beaten Lt. Surge and won then Thunder Badge when a female police officer had come up to him. She had seen him battle and thought that instead of giving it to a Pokémon care home, she could give him this Squirtle to train.

To say that he didn't understand this Squirtle was an understatement. When it was by itself, it caused a huge amount of mischief. Before the officer had got it, it had apparently been stealing from the locals, vandalising buildings and causing havoc for everyone around. But as soon as it was around others, it froze, becoming a small timid creature. During training battles with wild Pokémon, the Squirtle would stop dead in its tracks, not moving an inch no matter how much Red protested. No matter what he, Pikka or C did, they couldn't get through to the Squirtle.

Red was at a loss as to what to do. He knew the Squirtle loved to enjoy itself, that much was obvious whenever he left it alone, but how could he the Squirtle to act the same way whenever it was around other Pokémon or people. It was like he needed to make the Squirtle feel invisible around others. Then Red started grinning, he took of his cap and ruffled his hair. Could his idea work? He called Squirtle from his Pokéball and got out a pair of sunglasses that he found some way back.

"Hey Squirtle. These glasses make you invisible. I want you to have them." The Squirtle looked at Red, unconvinced at his statement but took the glasses nevertheless. Nervously he tried them on.

"Hey Squirtle! Where did you go?" Red asked looking around; he hoped that this act would work. He tried not to look as the Squirtle ran around behind him. It then pushed him and Red dramatically fell to the floor. The Squirtle laughed, while Red grinned to himself, his plan had worked.

* * *

G looked up towards the table at the back of the room. As usual there was a thermos flask and a teacup on it. At the chair next to the table was Mewtwo, putting on his armour. G watched the Physic Pokémon pulling on the grey armour, as it sipped some of the tea in the cup in between putting on armour pieces. Even though he looked menacing and ferocious, Mewtwo was really just a big softy with a heart of gold. Though it didn't seem that way when they met for the first time.

* * *

He had become the Kanto champion a month ago and he had already embarked on his next challenge. The rumours of the monster of Cerulean Cave had engrossed him; he would have come here sooner but the interviews and the duties of becoming the new champion.

When he started his journey, he didn't know where he would end up. He never thought he would end up as a the champion of Kanto but now that he was, he in a small way wished he had just left Blue as champion. All the glitz and glam that followed wasn't for him that was Blue; he just wanted to travel around with his Pokémon training and finding new things.

He heard a soft rumble beside him. He looked over to see C beside him. C very rarely travelled outside his Pokéball. Even though they thought nothing of it, having a jet black Charizard around was incredibly rare. Early in their journey whenever people saw C they mobbed him, scientists wanted to study him, it was better that people didn't know about C. And anyway C was simply too strong for any trainer now. But C was out now because of how powerful the wild Pokémon were here. There was a reason why this was off limits to all but members of the Elite Four and the Champion of the region. Red had first thought that they were exaggerating but after running into numerous high levelled Rydons, Electrodes and even some Gyarados he had started to believe them. But it didn't scare them. They enjoyed it, the two of them had even joked that they should live here, the conditions and the Pokémon could train them even further.

Deeper into the cave they went, exploring every nook and cranny, until they came across a small lake in the cave. Red pulled out Bob's Pokéball but upon hearing C's snort he returned it. They could see land across the lake and C leaned down so that Red could get on. Quickly they flew across to the other side. There were some small steps leading up which they took. They stopped in their tracks as they reached the top.

There standing in front of them stood a bipedal being. It seemed to have pale skin and had a long purple tail behind it; it seemed to wear a grey metallic suit of armour. The appearance of this being would have enough to startle any person alive. But what was more startling for them was that they seen this armour before. The two of them remembered that fateful day, the last day that Red had a mother. They could see it as though it was yesterday.

The Pokémon raised its hand, a black ball of energy forming in it, Red and C were still too shocked to respond. But the energy dissipated and the creature lowered its hand. It seemed to look at them, taking in their features. Suddenly they heard a voice in their heads.

'_I know you.'_ The voice was soft and menacing, they were gripped with terror. Once again the two of them were too shocked to say anything back but C worked up the courage to talk back.

'_We know you.'_ C tried to sound brave and confident but his thoughts betrayed him.

'_I remember.'_ The creature replied, though the voice was still frightening it seemed to be slightly gentler in tone. Red and C studied the creature, who returned the favour likewise.

'_I hurt you. I am sorry for what I am.'_ They could here the sorrow and bitterness this time. Slowly they made their way closer to the Pokémon until they were right next to it. They were surprised at how tall it was, well over six feet. Tentatively Red patted the Pokémon who turned to look at them. It seemed surprised, so Red smiled trying to reassure it. Eventually the three of them sat down on the ground. They shared thought with each, learning about one another, what had happened since their first meeting. Red and C felt sorry for Mewtwo (they had learnt its name) even though it had ripped their lives apart; it could not have been easy living all these years thinking that it was nothing more than a monster.

'_You must let me make it up to you somehow.' _Red thought about this, how could Mewtwo help them. He looked over at C asking for any ideas.

'_Well he could help us find more about our past, plus we have never seen a Mew, maybe he could help us see one.'_ Red shrugged, it was the best idea that he could think of, and so he thought the idea of Mewtwo joining them on their adventure to the Physic.

'_Join you? Does that mean I will have to become like the rest your friends and stay in a Pokéball?'_ Red had not thought about it like that but answered anyway.

'_You don't have to if you don't want to, you can just follow along if you want.'_

'_Hmmm if you can defeat me in battle I would willingly be part of your team. It is clear that C is incredibly strong. I think I could also benefit from this training as well.'_ Red and C smiled and chuckled slightly. They accepted the challenge; knowing they were about to be in the fight of their lives.

* * *

G remembered the fight fondly, Mewtwo defeated Saur, Bob and Snorlax, he went through a huge number of Great and Ultra Balls (G had the Master Ball but didn't want to use it, in his mind it was a cheat ball) but eventually C was able to take Mewtwo out. They had many adventures since then but they never did see a Mew nor did they find out more about their past. But they didn't care that much anymore; they had gained a lifelong friend. G chuckled to himself as Mewtwo finished putting on his armour; the armour did nothing at all but to cover Mewtwo up. Together they had made Mewtwo get over his belief that he was a Monster; but Mewtwo could never quiet get over his phobia of other people seeing him.

G looked over towards the centre of the room where his two oldest friends stood. Pikka perched upon C's shoulder fidgeting around unable to control himself. C silent and still, staring right back at G.

G remembered that Leaf had dared him to go into the long grass just outside of Pallet Town. He accepted it and then came face to face with a Pikachu. He remembered the two staring at each other before Professor Oak came charging over shouting at the top his voice before he caught the Pikachu. This Pikachu was the most unruly Pokémon that had lived in the lab. It dashed around wildly, refusing to listen to anyone, anyone except G. Whenever G came over, the Pikachu would calm down and stop running around and follow him. When it was time for G to start his journey, the Professor offered G to take the Pikachu with him, seeing that G was the only person who could control it anyway. And as for C, G couldn't even remember how they had first met; it felt as though the two of them had been together since beginning anyway.

'_So what the plan boss?'_ G was jolted back into the then and now as Bob asked him the question.

'_I say we go with the usual. Arrive. Raise Hell. Leave.' _Bob continued trying to suppress a giggle.

'_Shut up Bob!' _ G started to fiddle with the shard attached to his necklace while he thought about the room that they had caved in and what was in it. Perhaps it was time to cave in the rest of their little cave now. He detached the shard and threw it at Pikka who caught it. They huddled closer together, confusion etched on their faces. G told them his plan. After he finished a pin drop could have been heard. They were all too shocked to speak.

'_No offence G. But Bob's idea is better.'_ Mewtwo finally broke the deadlock, G smiled back; he knew that this plan would work the only question was whether or not they could fool Sektor. It was worth the cost to find out. The rest of them soon followed Mewtwo's lead as they tried to dissuade him from his idea but he would not budge. This was it.

They wouldn't relent in trying to stop him going along with his plan, Pikka refusing to do what G had asked him to do. G smiled ruefully, he should have known that they would have reacted like this. In the end he asked for shard back, he would complete the task he set for Pikka by himself and then strike out to Sinnoh by himself. But yet again they thwarted him. If he would still go through with it then they would accompany him every step of the way. From then one as he prepared himself for the trip did they let him out of their sight. Reluctantly Pikka accomplished the task set for him and handed the shard back to G.

It was time to go; his best friends surrounded him in one desperate attempt to stop him. He smiled fondly at them indicating that he was still going to do it. On seeing that his mind had been made they retrieved their Pokéballs and pushed them towards him. He took them still smiling and returned them all save C. The two of them walked outside as he clipped the Pokéballs to his belt. As they left G took one last look at the cave that he had called home for last four years. They closed the door and pushed a boulder in front of it. C leaned down for G to get on. It was time to head for Sinnoh.

C flew at great speed, stopping every now and then to eat some food and drink some water. The two didn't say a word to each other throughout, for the first time in their lives they did not know what to say to one another. As they neared Sinnoh G got a message from Sektor telling him to go to the Celestic Ruins and picture of an elderly couple, a young girl and Cynthia. All of them were bound and gagged, and there seemed to be some kind of device attached to each of them. G knew instantly that they were connected to some kind of explosive.

His thoughts were read by C who instantly sped up, trying to reach Sinnoh and Celestic town before the close of their second day of travel. The reached the town just as the sun set but instead of landing and taking a break, C circled around the ruins so that the two of them could get a grip of the terrain that Sektor had chosen. G grimaced as he took it in. There were multiple ways in and out, Sektor could ambush him and or worse escape with ease. They set down a bit outside of Celestic Town (a board told them they were on Route 211) and made camp. The two tried to sleep but it was pointless.

'_Promise you'll look after them C.'_ G then realised that these were the first time he had spoken to his oldest friend on this journey. The great winged beast sat up and stared into G's eyes. There were tears forming in the blood red eyes but C managed to hold it together and silently nodded. G smiled in thanks and hugged his old friend before he laid back down to try and get some sleep.

They awoke early the next morning and G made the call the Sektor.

"Ah. Red I was wondering when you would get here. So how would you like to play this then? I suggest you come here, give me the shard, leave me to make my exit and then come back to get your friends." He heard Sektor's voice, he remembered how he used to hate that voice, how it would it eat him up from the inside. Now though it didn't faze him. He chuckled softly before he replied back to Sektor.

"Let them go. Then…. I'll give it to you."

"Come now Red do you honestly expect me to give all my hostages before I get my shard back? I would have thought that after all these years you would have learnt a bit more?" G smiled he knew that his offer wasn't going to be accepted but it was worth a shot anyway.

"As soon as I give you the shard, you'll just kill them anyway."

"Haha, maybe you have actually learnt something. It seems that we are in a deadlock then. What would you like to propose?"

"Let the women go."

"Oh please Red, give up three hostages? You must think I'm crazy give up seventy five percent of what's keeping me safe so far. But I feel in a generous mood, I'll offer you the grandparents and the little sister, Cynthia stays with me." G thought about the offer the offer for a few minutes before he replied back to Sektor.

"Deal."

"Excellent, how would you like to take them of my hands?"

"Entrance on the western side. Without the explosives."

"Very good Red, shall we say that you come pick them up in one hour? I will then give you another hour to deliver me my shard. Oh and no Pokémon Red!"

"Fine." G ended the call looking up to C. The Charizard leaned down for him to get on. In no time at all they made their way to the western entrance of Celestic ruins. Once there he released the rest of his team.

'_If anything goes wrong get in there and get them to safety.'_ They nodded in understanding as he spoke to them. Then they waited. About an hour later they heard footsteps approaching, G motioned to Mewtwo to try and sense for any explosives that Sektor may have tried to keep on Cynthia's family.

Five figuresapproached them; three were thrown to the ground as the group got to the entrance, the other two figures then retreated quickly but not quick enough so that they couldn't be identified. A woman with silver hair and a huge hulking man with an iron mask covering his face. They recognised them as two of Sektor's followers from the war. Hunter and J, two of the higher officers in Sektor's army who had vanished just before the Cerulean Cave encounter.

'_They check out G, no explosives.'_ G nodded before he walked over to them and helped them up, removing their bonds and gags.

'_Make sure they're safe and again if anything happens get Cynthia to safety as well.'_ His friends nodded once more as they the family into their arms. Tears were flowing now and G himself struggled through his next words.

'_It was an honour guys.'_ He handed C his Pokéballs before turning and walking into the ruins, one last journey. He wandered about not sure of where he was going but his feet seemed to know which route to take. It wasn't long before he saw a group of four figures. He heard clapping as he approached them.

"The great and legendary Red! It's been long time." G instantly looked at Cynthia who was kneeling, she was gagged and bound and had few bruises on her face. Behind her stood Hunter, arms crossed, no emotion shown with the mask covering his face. On Hunter's right stood the silver haired woman J hers lips pursed but G could tell she was enjoying the situation. And in the centre, sitting on a chair sat Sektor still clapping away, he was thinner than he had remembered and all his hair was now white. But the violet eyes were the same.

"Ah Red, you've grown. You look in good health. I have to admit hiding yourself away on Mt Silver was great idea. Even at my full might I would struggle to climb that thing. I really owe getting my shard back to Cynthia here, had she not found you I doubt that I would ever have ever seen you again. But here you are. Now if you don't mind, hand me what is rightfully mine." G stayed still and silent turning his attention to Cynthia.

"Let her go."

"Please Red we made our bargain, I thought you were a man of honour?" Sektor asked sarcastically. G didn't answer straight away, taking his time to choose the right words.

"Kill her you loose the shard. Kill me you loose the shard."

"Oh Red, I was not expecting that from you. You have matured a lot from when we first did battle. It really is shame that we met in such circumstances. We really could have helped each other out a lot. Very well then I will release her as well." Sektor motioned for Hunter to take Cynthia. As Cynthia was being dragged away G couldn't help but steal a look at her. She was crying and was trying to resist. Even when she was sad she looked beautiful at least G's last image would be something of beauty.

"Wait!" G snapped back to Sektor who had his hand raised.

"I think you should know something Red. You know when I said that it was down to Cynthia that I found you. Well I completely mean that. Do you want to guess who here father is?" There was an evil smile on Sektor's face; G stole a quick glance at Cynthia who looked horrified despite being gagged. Both Sektor and J laughed before Sektor continued.

"Hector Kenich!" Sektor motioned for Hunter to take Cynthia away but G's heart sunk as the Sektor said those words. He didn't look at Cynthia despite her shrieks of protest. How could he, her father had killed his only human friend, her father had killed the closet thing he had to a sister. Had she been a part of this the whole time? Had she been working for Sektor all along? Had Sektor fooled him yet again? It didn't matter now though as he composed himself. He would be at peace soon enough.

"Well then Red I've held up my end of the bargain, it's time for you to do the same." Sektor spoke as Cynthia's shrieks died down. G reached up under his hoodie to Leaf's silver chain and twirled the shard around; he looked down so that Sektor could not see his smile. At least he could fool Sektor just this once. He detached the shard and threw it at him.

"Thank you." Sektor said as he caught it. He looked at the shard thoroughly rubbing his fingers over it; he seemed satisfied as he handed it to J who promptly put it into a briefcase. G was thankful that they hadn't quite examined it fully.

"Well then Oh Great Champion! I think it is time now isn't it?" G wasn't surprised as Sektor pulled out a gun. To be honest he was a bit disappointed to see that it was a rather small handgun; he had hoped that Sektor would use something large and substantial to finish him of. He was Sektor's greatest enemy after all. He half smiled in defiance for one last time staring straight into those violet eyes.

"I should ask you to beg for mercy, but you wouldn't anyway. It was always your intention to come here to die wasn't it? I broke you four years ago. I finish you today."

G heard a loud bang and a pain in his right leg. His right leg gave way in searing pain as he dropped to his knees. He heard manic laughing and another loud bang. He felt sharp pain somewhere for his chest for spilt second before it was gone. G smiled one last time as fell onto his side. It was time for the greatest adventure of all.

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading, also sorry for any spelling/grammatical errors, I only reread this once so I'm bound to miss a few (please do point any out to me so I can correct them - also if any betas are reading and would like to become a beta for me please get in touch)**

**Review, Rate and Subscribe!**

**Cheers!**

**92fd**


	14. The Plan

**AN: Guess what! I've finished my internship and my exams (which I passed btw oh baby!) which means I have two weeks to focus on this before uni starts again. So lets get straight into it! As ever I don't own Pokemon in any way shape or form.**

* * *

Cynthia squirmed and wriggled. Trying with all her might to break free of this hulking figure's huge grip. The gargantuan man did not seem the slightest bit fazed as she tried to get away, easily carrying her on his shoulders. Not stopping even as Cynthia managed to get a leg free and started to kick out.

The two of them then stopped moving when they heard a loud bang. They stood for a little while until they heard a second bang. Adrenaline filled Cynthia; Red was in danger, she needed to get back and help him. With every once of energy that she could muster, she struggled against him; kicking out wildly with her one free leg. She felt her shin connect with what felt like the side of his neck. He let out a grunt of pain and his grip on her loosened slightly. Cynthia took this opportunity to kick out again, each kick finding the same spot on his neck. She continued until he finally released her. He fell to the floor grasping his neck in pain while Cynthia toppled on top of him.

Quickly she wriggled away from him until she found a sharp rock on the ground. Desperately she tried to cut the bonds tying her hands together by rubbing them against the edge of this stone. After what felt like an eternity of trying she felt the bonds slacken; she started to pull her arms apart, ignoring the pain she tried to rip the bonds apart. Finally, just as the bonds had cut deep enough into her skin to draw blood, they gave way; falling apart to free her hands and arms. It was easy after this to undo the rest of the bonds that shackled her. She turned to go back from where she had come from; her attention turning to Red. Was he OK?

As she took a step back towards the room where Red was, she tripped and fell forwards. She brought her hands up just in time to stop her face from hitting the rock that she had just used to cut herself free. She let out a gasp of pain as the rock pierced her left hand. Turning her head back around, she saw the cause of her fall. He had grabbed her lag. He was lying on the ground, his left hand still clutching his throat while his right tightened its grip around her leg. Slowly he made his way onto his knees. He pulled her closer towards him as he got to his feet. When she was directly next to him, he let go of her leg and before she could get away again he grabbed the back of her neck. With just one hand he lifted her of the ground, her feet dangled in the air. He shifted his grip on her so that he now had her by the throat and she now faced him.

Cynthia gasped for air as he squeezed her throat and brought her closer towards him. Her face was now right in front of the iron mask that covered his face. And even though she could see any emotion through the mask, she could tell that he was furious. She could hear him breathing heavier and faster, and it seemed as though his head was shaking. Suddenly with just the hand that grasped her around the throat, he raised her straight up before bringing her back down, throwing her onto the ground. Cynthia shrieked in pain as her back hit the floor, her head was spinning and she lost vision for a split second. She moved onto her side to try and lessen the pain in her back and her head. She moved her arms up to cradle her head and as she ran her fingers through her hair she felt them touch some sort of liquid. But before she could confirm whether or not it was blood a hand grasped her by the throat.

It seemed as though he was not done with her. This time his grip was even tighter. Once again he made to slam her to the floor by her throat but just when he released her she saw a flash of black and yellow and he disappeared from her sight. Before she could hit the ground for a second time, a blue light surrounded her. All of her downwards momentum was taken from her; she floated in the air for a while before she was gently lowered on the ground.

Cynthia looked up to see a large, imposing robotic looking life form; instantly she tried to move back away from it before she recognised the armour and saw a long purple tail. As an Eevee with spiky ear bounded up and sat down next to Mewtwo she smiled and let out a small laugh. She looked over to her left to see a Pikachu clutching the leg of a huge black Charizard. C had the man in its left hand. The great winged lizard bared its fangs at the man and was ready to slash at him with its right hand. Pikka was seemingly trying to stop C from doing so as it pulled on C's leg and let out small cries. With a grunt the Charizard lowered its right hand and looked away from the man before it suddenly punched him; knocking him out instantly.

'_Cynthia, where is Red? Is he all right?' _She was taken aback as she heard the voice in her head but she quickly regained her composure. She told them that Red was in a room with Sektor and how they could get there, she didn't say if Red was safe or not. Once she had finished C, Pikka and Vee took off; the first two disappearing from sight almost immediately while Vee took a couple of seconds to be gone. Mewtwo had made to leave as well but stopped itself. It turned its attention towards Cynthia, kneeling down beside her.

'_Are you OK?'_ Cynthia nodded at Mewtwo despite the pain that she was in. Red was the one who needed their attention right now. Suddenly they heard a huge roar, one full of pain and anguish.

"Red" she mumbled out loud, the roar had filled her with fear. What had happened to Red? Blue light surrounded her once again. She looked up towards Mewtwo; the visor in his helmet shone the same blue as the one that surrounded her. She turned to left to see the masked man also surround by the light. All three of them then began to float up before they shot forwards. They flew down the path that Cynthia had just come down and in less than a minute they found themselves in the room. There in the centre were C, Pikka and Vee. All three of them huddled over something. But Cynthia knew exactly what it was. Red.

As Mewtwo dropped the three of them, she hurried over to the group. Pikka and Vee were over Red's chest desperately trying to stop the bleeding while C was ripping Red's hoodie; forming makeshift bandages for the two little Pokémon to use. Mewtwo started to help make bandages with C while Cynthia helped Pikka and Vee. It was clear that Red needed proper medical attention urgently but she had no way of contacting the emergency services. Then she noticed her old Pokégear on Red's wrist. Quickly she detached it and navigated to the phone section. She saw the last number dialled had been not that long ago, probably while Red, Sektor and herself had been in this room. The number that Red had dialled had been the emergency services. But why weren't they here? After hearing what had transpired why did they not send anyone over? Had they thought it was a prank call? She didn't bother to answer the questions forming in her head; instead once again ringing the emergency services and explained to them the situation that she found herself in (they seemed to not be able to hear some of the words that Cynthia said so she had to repeat quite a few things).

After the longest ten minutes of her life, they finally arrived and immediately tended to Red. Cynthia and Red's Pokémon were pushed aside as the paramedics did what they could. A few seconds later they stretched Red of to the ambulance parked outside. Cynthia, Pikka, Vee and Mewtwo (who had conjured a brown heavy cloak to wear and disguise itself) followed them and got on as well while C took the skies and tailed the ambulance from above. As they hooked Red up to the machines, Cynthia was relieved to see that the EKG machine registered a heart beat, even if it was terribly weak.

When they reached the hospital, the paramedics wheeled Red out, straight into surgery with Pikka and Vee in tow. Cynthia was prevented from following them as the doctors insisted that she be tended to as well. She turned to find Mewtwo but to her surprise he had vanished. So reluctantly she allowed them to attend to her. The wound on the back of her head was not serious, just a small cut but the gash she had received to her left hand required seven stitches.

After being patched up Cynthia made her way to the waiting room. There she found Pikka and Vee sitting on a pair of chairs with worried looks on their faces. She sat down and started to pet them; trying to reassure them that Red would be fine. But she could tell by the tension she felt in their muscles that it wasn't working. While they waited Cynthia noticed two men enter the room. They wore well worn brown suits and cream jackets over them. She knew from experience that these two men were detectives. They noticed her and walked over to her.

"Hello Miss Cynthia. I am Detective Bruce Gordon and this is my partner Detective James Lee. First of all we'd like to inform you that we've picked up your family not so long ago. They were walking back into town, quite shaken up I might add, and were accompanied by a Blastoise and a Lucario. They are currently at the station where we are keeping them safe for now." Cynthia nodded gratefully at the news. In the commotion she had completely forgotten about her family; she was pleased to hear that they were safe but she also knew that the police would be questioning them at this time. She hoped that the police would not be too rigorous on them.

"We would also like to apologise on behalf of all the emergency services for not being able to respond to the first call. The signal that we received was poor so we could not make out what was going on nor could we get the location." Cynthia suppressed a frown, at least it explained why they had not come when Red had made the call, but it wasn't much of an apology.

"The masked man is also in our custody, we've identified him as Hunter; he was in Sektor's army but disappeared when Sektor fell from power. But unfortunately we cannot obtain any information from him as it seems that his face and mouth was burnt some time ago preventing him from talking to us. He's been a bane of this investigation so far. So we would like to ask you some questions over what transpired if that is all right with you." Once again Cynthia nodded and began to answer their questions going over how Sektor had kidnapped them and what had happened in the ruins.

"I'm sorry Miss but who made the telephone call while Sektor had you tied up in your house?" Cynthia had wished that they would not ask this question. If she told them that it was Red there would be a frenzy of activity and a mob would surely come to the hospital. She was stuck.

'_Tell them his name is Barry Trotter.'_

"Huh?" Cynthia jumped a little as she heard Mewtwo's voice in her head. Fortunately the two detectives did not seem to notice.

"I asked who was on the phone. You didn't mention who he was."

"Oh, his name is Barry Trotter. He's a trainer that I met during my travels in Kanto. He's a bit of hermit keeps to himself a lot. Apparently I was the first person to get in touch with him in years. He had something valuable that Sektor wanted."

"I see. If he makes it we will have to get a statement from Barry as well. I think that is all the information that we require. Thank you for your cooperation. Would you like us to take you to your family?"

"No. I'd rather stay here and make sure he's OK." The two detectives gave her curious looks but didn't press the matter further.

"In that case would you like us to bring them here?"

"That would be great thank you." With that the two officers bowed and took their leave. As soon as they were out of sight Cynthia started to look around, trying to get a glimpse of a brown cloak. After a few seconds (she didn't spot a hint of brown of any kind) she gave up; sitting back down next to Pikka and Vee and waited with them. Minutes passed, each one making them more anxious than the last, until woman in green scrubs approached them. Immediately the three of them stood up, worried and questioning looks on their faces. Before Cynthia could speak the woman talked to them.

"He's stable. We've placed him in the ICU for now. We will continue to monitor him over the next few hours. To say he's lucky is an understatement. Had he got here any later he would have certainly died from blood loss. Had the calibre of the bullet that hit him in the chest been any larger, or had the bullet hit slightly to the left, and hit his heart and he would have been dead."

"But?" Cynthia could tell from her body language that something was wrong. They way the woman had delivered this news was of somehow; there was joy at him being alive but not the right amount, she was holding something back.

"Well like I said, one of the bullets missed his heart by the narrowest of margins. It in fact pierced his third and fourth intercostals muscles and did severe damage to his left lung. There were complications during the surgery which mean that lung will no longer be able to expand to its full capacity. This means that he will suffer from breathing difficulties for the foreseeable future. As for the other bullet, it hit him square on his right Patella, his knee cap…."

"Go on."

"The knees shattered causing secondary damage to the bottom of the right femur and the top part of the right Tibia and Fibula. The tendons in his leg have ripped from the bone due to the trauma of the event as well. We managed to save the leg but errr…."

"But what?"

"It would be a miracle if he walks again." Cynthia fell back down into her chair. She tried to tell herself that at least Red had survived but all that went through her head was that this was her fault. It was her fault that Red was now a cripple.

"Hey uhm, he might still though. It's a miracle that he is alive at all, he might still be able to produce another one." The woman tried to cheer Cynthia up, but she only half heard what she had said to her.

"Oh and before I forget. Here are his belongings." She pulled out two clear plastic bags. The first of which contained Red's tattered and bloodied clothes, the second his jewellery. Cynthia took them of her, not listening as the woman spoke of having to get back into surgery. She didn't notice her walk away, instead opening the bag that had Red's jewellery in. Carefully she took out his silver chain. It was thin and delicate not the typical man's chain, it was almost feminine in nature. As she passed the chain the chain through her fingers she caught sight of two words engraved on the underside of it. 'Lucky Green'. Delicately she placed the relic back into bag; she knew what it meant to Red and didn't want to damage it. After putting the chain back she took out the silver bracelet. It was damaged quite extensively; at first Cynthia thought this was due to shrapnel from the bullet but on closer inspection the damage had happened a long time ago. Yet again there were engravings on it but this time most of the words and letters were ineligible. Despite this she was able to make out some of the words of one sentence: 'My love….son…..Redm... G…..' Cynthia toyed with the bracelet, trying it on a few times. She guessed that 'Redm' could be someone related to Red (possibly a brother or cousin) due to their similar names, and that this bracelet belonged to that person's mother or father.

"Cynthia!" She looked up to see her family enter the waiting room, being flanked by a Blastoise and Lucario. She stood up as Carla ran towards her and embraced her tightly. Her sister was still holding onto her as her grandparents made their way over and greeted her. They filled one another in; Cynthia slightly surprised to hear that they were handed a piece of paper by, in their words, 'the big robot thing' telling them that they should refer to Red as Barry Trotter should the police ask about his identity.

"How is he?" her grandfather asked.

"He's stable." Cynthia replied, her voice a little raspy.

"That's good to hear. We owe Red our lives." Cynthia nodded in response. Red had done so much for her including saving her family and herself twice. What had her family done in return? Nearly kill him on multiple occasions, the latest being of her own doing. She looked away from her family as a tear formed in her eye, she didn't deserve Red.

At hearing Red's name his Pokémon walked over to them. They had been in a group, making no sound what so ever but Cynthia knew that they had been communicating with each other the whole time. All four of them seemed full of joy, pleased that Red had survived. The big Blastoise, Bob walked up to her and handed her a piece of paper.

"Car park, behind white truck. M2" as she finished reading Cynthia excused herself from the group. Feigning a need to go to the ladies, she made her way out, eventually making her way to the car park and behind the white truck that was parked in a secluded area. Initially she thought she was alone until two figures stepped from the shadows. C and Mewtwo stood in front of her and she heard Mewtwo's voice in her head once more.

'_How are you Cynthia?'_

"I'm fine thanks." The two Pokémon nodded in response before Mewtwo continued.

'_We are here to fulfil Red's plan. We have information for you. What you do with it is up to you.'_ Cynthia nodded in understanding as C brought forward a small black device which at first glance looked like a TV remote to Cynthia.

'_This was made by Pikka, it is a tracking device. The beacon that it tracks is on shard that Red gave to Sektor.' _Cynthia smiled at this, Red was full of surprises.

'_For obvious reasons neither C nor myself can give this to the police. Either one of us could track and then capture Sektor but we still have the problem of handing him over. That is where you come in. We would like to hand the tracker over to you. And as long as you don't destroy the device you may do what you want with it.'_ C offered her the device as Mewtwo finished. She looked at it before she hesitantly took it.

"Do you want me to hand it over to the police?"

'_You could do that yes.'_ There was amusement in Mewtwo's tone which confused her slightly but she caught on shortly after.

"I can track and capture Sektor myself?"

'_Again you could do that.'_ She heard Mewtwo laugh a little which she returned before replying.

"Sektor has the shard."

'_Yes he does.'_ Once again there was amusement in Mewtwo's voice, but this time is was almost nonchalant. If Sektor had the shard why was Mewtwo not showing any signs of concern about it? Instead acting as though there was no danger at all. She wanted to find out more but she got a feeling that she wouldn't get any more from the Psychic Pokémon.

"OK then, I will track and capture Sektor."

'_Good. Pikka and Vee will stay at the hospital and guard G.'_

"G?" she interrupted.

'_Oh sorry, that's what we call Red.'_ Cynthia remembered the words on the bracelet. The letter G. Maybe Redm was Red's real name, Red being the shortened form of it. It made sense after all.

'_As I was saying, Pikka and Vee will protect Red. Bob and Lucy will guard your family. C and I will accompany you whenever you choose to depart.' _ Cynthia began to entertain thoughts of her standing over Sektor. His broken body beneath her, the great scourge of this planet finally defeated. A fire lit in her, she wanted vengeance. Vengeance for her family, for the people whose lives Sektor destroyed and for Read and Leaf.

"All right, first we go to my place, get my Pokémon and some supplies and then we go after Sektor." She said fiercely.

'_Wait, you want to go now? Surely you'd want to spend some time with your family first?'_ This time it was Mewtwo's turn to be confused.

"The longer we wait the further Sektor gets. If we start straight away we can catch him before he gets any sort of strength."

'_Well I can't argue with your logic but still..'_

"Red would want us to go after him straight away." Cynthia cut Mewtwo of assertively. Using Red had a profound effect on the two, their happiness being replaced by steely aggression. Cynthia knew she had struck a nerve, the two Pokémon knew Red better than she did and would not appreciate that she was suggesting that she knew what Red would want.

'_We'll leave as soon as you're ready then.'_ Mewtwo relaxed as he spoke to Cynthia though the amused tone did not return.

"OK then. I'll just go tell my family what's going on. I'll meet you back in here in a bit?" C and Mewtwo nodded in agreement before she ran back to the waiting room. She told her family what was going on and what she intended to do. They tried to dissuade her, saying that it was a job for the police but she would not be budged. In the end they relented, still urging her to remain safe. She asked them to look after Red to which they agreed.

'_All set?'_ Mewtwo asked as Cynthia returned to the car park. She nodded in response as C leaned down so that she could get on. C took of rapidly, reaching the clouds in seconds. Cynthia looked behind her to see Mewtwo floating a bit behind them,

'_You will need to direct us to your house.'_ It was harder than she realised to give directions. For starters she had found it hard to navigate from the sky and the speed at which C was travelling meant that she had to shout out the instructions. Nevertheless they were able to make back to her house in very short time.

She made her way to the family vault, typing in the code. Inside she was relieved to see that her Pokéballs; she was thankful that Sektor had either not gone through with his promise you use them for experiments or he had simply forgotten about them. She released all of them hugging each one tightly before telling them about Sektor and how they needed to stop him. They enthusiastically agreed with her and also seemed happy that they would get some more company in the form of Mewtwo and C.

Cynthia recalled her Pokémon as she set about gathering supplies. As she finished packing her bag she realised that she still had Red's jewellery and clothes. She looked at them one more time before she locked the chain and necklace in the vault for safe keeping (and placed the clothes in her room). With that finished she went out back where Mewtwo and C were waiting patiently. C leaned down for Cynthia to get on again. They took of and travelled west where the tracker told them to fly.

As they flew past Veilstone City, the tracker indicated that they needed to turn around. Cynthia was bemused, had they overtaken Sektor already? C was a rapid flyer but even he couldn't have caught Sektor in such a short time. They circled around the city, the device beeping away, the frequency reached its maximum as they flew over the north-east part. They lowered their altitude slightly to get a better look. The source seemed to come from the large building near to the water. Circling above a couple more times to make sure that the device did indeed indicate the source was this building, C then landed on Route 214. After dropping of Cynthia, C left to scout out the area. Cynthia and Mewtwo started to make camp and discussed how they would tackle this building.

'_It's not to late to hand this over to the police if you want.'_

"No. I have to do this." Cynthia replied firmly, pausing to think for a little before continuing on.

"I know Maylene. She's the gym leader of the city. I'll ask her about the building tomorrow. Then I'll tell her to send the police in after us." Mewtwo nodded and then looked up as C descended from the skies. The two Pokémon looked at each other, conversing in their silent way before they turned their attention back to Cynthia.

'_C says the building appears to be a factory of some kind. And it's littered with guards.'_ Cynthia showed no emotion though inside she knew that the task would be no easy matter.

After a short moment of silence the three of them decided to turn in for night. But Cynthia could not sleep, her thoughts polluted with what could happen tomorrow, her family and on Red. His face when Sektor revealed who her father was plagued her, the shock and disappointment of it. Did he believe that she had worked for Sektor all this time? Had this ruined their friendship for good? A small part of her knew that she left to capture Sektor straight away to prove to Red that she was a friend and in no way connected to Sektor. Yet still she couldn't help but feel as though she betrayed him, perhaps it was better for her to stay out of his life after this. Suddenly she felt a presence inside her mind and she looked up to see Mewtwo staring at her.

"Did you read my mind?"

'_I apologise, you seemed stressed and I was curious.'_

"And what did you see?"

'_A considerable amount.'_

"You know?"

'_That your father is Hector Kenich and what happened in the room? Yes.'_

"And?" she said a little fiercely. C then turned his attention to them; apparently he had not been sleeping either.

'_C and I agree that you're nothing like your father. And that you had no part in Sektor's plot. G has only ever made one human friend before you. In fact you are the only human friend he has now. We want to see G happy. He hadn't been that for a very long time until you showed up. You can make him happy, and for that we want you in his life.'_

"Thank you." She settled back down feeling a bit better, if his Pokémon liked her maybe there was hope for them yet.

They rose early the next day. C took the skies yet again while Mewtwo donned his brown cloak and vanished into the town. Cynthia made her way to the Gym making sure to stay out of sight of the building.

"Hey Cynthia, how are you? Haven't seen you in a while." Cynthia was greeted the young gym leader with pink eyes and hair.

"Hello Maylene. I'm sorry but I'm not here to chat. What can you tell me about the building in the north-east corner of city, next to the sea?"

"Oh, OK. It's the Galactic building. Used to be owned by Team Galactic but was bought some time ago by this reclusive billionaire. They produce all kinds of mechanisms. I'm not really sure to be honest, I haven't visited that place."

"No worries Maylene. I ask because I have a strong belief that…. that a criminal is currently using it as his HQ."

"What?"

"Yeah. I'm gonna go check it out. There probably isn't anything to worry about but if you don't here from me in a couple hours or so, send in the police to find me would you?" Cynthia laughed as she said this, trying to take the sting out the information that she had just given the young gym leader, though it didn't seem to work.

"O-K" Maylene replied nervously. Cynthia waved goodbye as she exited the gym. While she walked towards the Galactic building she bumped into a large crowd of people. One rather large person shoulder barged into her and continued on walking without apologising. When Cynthia turned to argue with said person she heard Mewtwo's voice in her head.

'_Look inside you right trouser pocket.'_ Cynthia did what she was told and found a key inside.

'_I picked this up in the warehouse in the north-west of the town. It'll get you passed any locked doors in the building. Speaking of which, there appears to be four floors. Our guess is that Sektor is at the top somewhere. C and I will make a distraction for you to go enter the building. Then we'll take out the guards surrounding the perimeter while you make your way to the top. We'll meet you there.'_ Cynthia returned the key to her pocket and made her way over to stairs in front of the building.

Two guards at the top of the flight of stairs eyed her as she reached the bottom of the stairs. They gripped Pokéballs, ready to take action against her if she made a move. Suddenly there was huge bang and a sound of glass shattering. The two guards looked at each other and talked into their radios, leaving their posts shortly after. Cynthia took her chance; she ran up the stairs and used her key to enter.

As she entered the building, the people inside were in state of chaos. Running around madly and shouting orders at each other. A couple of them noticed her and immediately sent out their Pokémon to battle her. However all they had were a Golbat, Dustox and Bronzor which were easily dealt with by a combination of Garchomp and Milotic. The rest of the guards on the first floor were prevented from getting to her by C, who flew in and started a fire, winking at her before flying back out.

Cynthia made her way up. She encountered many grunts and scientists, each one determined to stop her, each one falling in front of her. As she continued on she came across many experiments, a lot of which involved Pokémon. Cynthia had to free them, they were in harm and she couldn't stand to see them suffer. She even punched one of the scientists guarding them, as he argued that these experiments were for the greater good.

Finally she reached the top floor. A locked door blocked her way. She whipped out her key and unlocked the door. Opening it she saw the back of a silver haired woman standing at a desk, filing some papers away. The woman turned around and smiled deviously at Cynthia.

"Expecting someone else?" Cynthia resisted the urge to walk up to the woman and choke her then and there. Instead she set face in stone, determined not to give any emotion away. The silver haired woman laughed before she continued.

"What do you think that by copying his stance and his look that you'll be as strong as him? You'll never be as strong as Red honey and guess what we killed him. And I'm going to kill you after this! Say your prayers little Miss champion." The silver haired woman threw a Pokéball which hit the ground sending out a flurry of red light before materialising into an Ariados. Cynthia merely smiled in response before throwing her own Pokéball.

"Garchomp, Flamethrower!" Garchomp appeared from her Pokéball and immediately shot red hot flames at the bug Pokémon scoring a direct hit.

"Get out of there Ariados!"

"Keep on it Garchomp." Ariados tried to evade out of the flames but Garchomp continued to scorch it.

"NO! Impossible!" the silver haired woman cried as Ariados fell to Garchomp's flamethrower. She bared her teeth at Cynthia as she returned Ariados.

"You got lucky with that one! Try this one for size you little bitch! Drapion! Use Pin Missile!" As soon as Drapion emerged from its Pokéball its claws began to glow white. It brought its claws above its head and thin white lines connected the two. It then brought its claws forward, releasing multiple glowing white streams of pins directly towards Garchomp.

"Garchomp use Flamethrower to block the pins and get in close." Garchomp smiled at Cynthia, understanding what she had she in mind. It charged towards the Drapion burning the pins away from it, raising its wings as it got close and before the Pokémon and its trainer could react it delivered a devastating Brick Break to the Drapion. A shriek of pain was heard as Drapion fell to the ground.

"Get up now!" Drapion struggled up barely making its way onto its knees; Garchomp looked back at Cynthia who nodded. Cynthia showed no emotion but inside she was upset. She didn't want to cause any more harm to Drapion but it clear that this woman would force it to fight till the end, it was better to take it out quickly. Garchomp delivered another super effective Brick Break to Drapion, this time knocking it out. The woman shrieked in anger, cursing Cynthia as she returned Drapion. She shook a little in fury but she regained her composure shortly after.

"Salamence! It up to you!" A large, turquoise, four legged dragon with red wings appeared before Cynthia and Garchomp. The two dragon Pokémon roared at each other, determined to prove that they were stronger than the other.

"Flamethrower!" both trainers cried in unison. Immediately Garchomp and Salamence shot flames at each other. At first it seemed the two were evenly matched but after this short stalemate, Garchomp's flames began to overpower Salamence's. Just before the flames hit Salamence, it took off to stop itself from being scorched.

"Dragon Pulse Salamence!" Salamence opened its mouth as a turquoise ball of energy gathered outside of it. It then fired the ball straight at Garchomp.

"Dig." Cynthia muttered and just before the attack could hit Garchomp, it shot under the floor, dodging the attack.

"I thought you were a champion Cynthia. Even a starter trainer knows that ground attacks have no effect on flying types." Cynthia merely smiled back and muttered something that the woman couldn't hear. Garchomp suddenly appeared from the floor its body enveloped by a light blue aura. Salamence moaned in pain as Dragon Rush connected with it. As the two Pokémon fell back to the floor Garchomp's claws turned light green and she slashed at the Salamence using Dragon Claw repeatedly until the two of them hit the floor. The battle was over.

"No, No, NO!" the woman didn't recall Salamence instead backing away and abandoning it as she tried to escape from Cynthia. But as she turned to run away Mewtwo and C crashed through the windows blocking her escape. Cynthia and Garchomp took chance to tackle her to the ground.

"Where's Sektor?" Cynthia demanded.

"Like I'd tell you." Cynthia slapped her twice across each cheek leaving red marks on them. The woman was shocked; she did not think that Cynthia would do such a thing. Cynthia leaned in closer and whispered into her ear.

"Next time it'll be Garchomp and if I still don't get an answer I'll ask Red's Charizard to." The woman looked wide eyed at Cynthia before she told Cynthia what she needed to know.

"Continue on out to the left of this room. You'll come to a small passageway, go through it and you'll come to the main hall. Sektor will be there."

"Thank you." Cynthia looked up at Mewtwo who telekinetically brought out some rope from her bag. She got off the woman and returned Garchomp turning away from her as Mewtwo approached her.

"Wait what are you doing?" the woman asked, her tone full of worry, as she backed away from Mewtwo. Cynthia didn't look back or even answer as the woman shrieked while Mewtwo bound and gagged her. She smiled to herself, now they were even.

The three of them walked out and through the passageway until they reached the hall. There were machines every where and three generators stood at the back behind a central computer. At the centre of the hall stood a massive green mechanism; wires connecting it to the rest of the machines in the room. It was humanoid in appearance though there was no head and there were two huge turrets mounted on each shoulder. She felt Mewtwo and C tense up either side of her. She knew what it was, Sektor's personal machine.

"Impressive isn't it?" Cynthia focused her attention towards the computer at the back. At it sat Sektor, his back turned to them.

"Those are .50 calibre firing turrets capable of thirty thousand rpm. It can move across any terrain at ninety miles an hour. When I finish her I intend to add flight capabilities as well. Oh and I forget to mention that it has recharging shields as well. And that's not to mention that the capabilities increase a thousand fold once the shard is in place." Sektor turned around as he pressed a button. A platform lifted up and moved Sektor to where the head of the mechanism should have been. With remarkable grace for his age he slipped down into it as mechanical arm holding a small brown glass like object rose up. The arm placed the shard in the centre of the mechanism.

Immediately the generators started up and the lights on the mechanism turned on. The wires detached from the mechanism and it took a step towards them. Suddenly the lights flickered, a right explosion occurred in the right arm which fell of shortly after. This was followed by more explosions in and around the machine. The left leg fell of as an explosion occurred near its join, causing it fall on to its side.

Cynthia looked over at Mewtwo and C. There was a small smirk on C's face and Mewtwo did not seem shocked. The two of them walked over to the machine and Cynthia followed. It was leaking some sort of fluid which made them watch their step so that they would not slip. When they reached the machine they looked at the centre panel. The shard was no longer in the machine; instead it had shattered into many tiny pieces which lay scattered across the floor around it. C then ripped of the panel to reveal Sektor. He was coughing and bleeding from the mouth, a look of confusion on his face. Cynthia moved in closer, revulsion and hatred filled her as she looked upon his form.

"Are you going to kill me then?" he laughed. Cynthia truly had an urge to. This man had ended and ruined so many lives, including her own family. He would wriggle his way out of jail if she spared him as well. She leaned down grabbing a piece of broken metal.

'_No Cynthia! We are not killers!'_ Cynthia looked away from Sektor, noticing a wire sparking nearby. She turned back to Sektor and raised the piece of metal above her head. Sektor closed his eyes in anticipation. Cynthia brought the piece down quickly, right next to Sektor's head. Sektor opened his eyes, looking at the metal and then at Cynthia, a quizzical look on his face.

"I'm not going to kill you. But I don't have to make sure you stay alive." Cynthia got up and turned away as the fluid spread out to the sparking wire. A flame burst from a spark. Cynthia, Mewtwo and C walked out to Sektor's screams as he burned to death.

* * *

**AN: And so ends chapter 14. I was never going to kill of Red, its like AnisoulJ93 says, people really would hunt me down and gut me, lol. Also as you may have noticed these last few chapters have been much longer than the first few. What do guys think about that? Ever since chapter 4, I've tried to make my chapters to be around the 4k mark. But lately it seems that I've gone on a bit. Anyways rate, review and subscribe if you haven't already!**

**Cheers.**

**92fd**


	15. Recovery

**AN: Hello everyone! Sorry it took so long, so lets get on with it. As always I do not own Pokemon.**

* * *

As she followed C and Mewtwo, questions rose in her head. Why had Sektor's machine not worked? And what had happened to the shard, why did it disintegrate like that? Had this been the plan all along? She tried to ask the two Pokémon as they made their way down the building but C raised his arm stopping them in their tracks. The Charizard raised its head and sniffed the air for a few seconds before it turned to Mewtwo. Once again Cynthia could tell they were communicating by there in their own special manner.

'_It appears that the police have entered the building. I guess Maylene sent them in after you.'_ Mewtwo said as he turned towards her.

'_Both C and I agree that you would have a harder time explaining what happened here with both of us by your side.'_

"Wait what are you…" Cynthia wasn't able to finish her question. C took off and blasted out through the roof sending debris all over her.

'_Might I suggest that you don't mention anything about us. It'll make things much easier for me.'_ Before Cynthia could clear the debris around her and ask Mewtwo what he had meant, Mewtwo teleported away leaving her alone in the dust. _'Just great! Now what am I supposed to do?'_ she thought to herself.

A couple of minutes later she was found by the police. Cynthia noticed that hey were wearing full body armour and were armed to the teeth. Maylene had got a crack police by the looks of things. They cleared away the remaining rubble before the team spit in two. Half continued on through the building while the other half escorted her back out. Once outside she was walked over to a paramedic, despite her protests, to make sure she had no injuries. While she was sat down and had her pulse taken, Cynthia looked up at the building. The fire on the top floor still burned away but the fire-fighters had stopped it from spreading and seemed to have it under control. Nearly all the windows had been shattered and the front entrance now resembled an impact site for a small meteorite. She smiled little, Mewtwo and C had really gone to town on this building.

More cops arrived on the scene to secure the perimeter and prevent the large crowd that had gathered from getting to close. The police were having quite the hard time, first with trying to round up all the grunts and scientist from the building and to make sure that all the Pokémon that had been used in the experiment had been rescued. And now to make matters worse the media had arrived. Cynthia shifted her position, trying to stay out of their view. But as she moved out of the media's line of sight, she moved into the filed of view of two familiar men in brown suits and cream jackets. They saw her and walked over to her.

"Hello Miss Cynthia. I'm sure you remember us."

"Detectives Gordon and Lee. How are you two?" she asked in a glum tone.

"We are very well thank you. Have you finished with her?" Detective Gordon turned to the paramedic attending to Cynthia, who nodded in response.

"Good. If you'd like to follow us Miss, we would like to ask you some questions." Reluctantly Cynthia followed the two detectives. Around her camera's flashed and she could hear reporters exclaim as the three of them walked past. Finally she was ushered into the back of a police truck.

"So Miss, what are you doing here?"

"I had a tip-off that Sektor had made base here."

"Who gave you the tip-off?"

"Anonymous."

"Fine, well what happened when you arrived here?" Cynthia told them about how she first went to Maylene to explain her suspicions and then her journey through the building, coming across various grunts and scientist who tried to stop her and the cruel experiments that were going on.

"Then I got to the top floor. The silver haired woman who had kidnapped me was there. We battled, I won, and then I tied her up to stop her getting away. I moved out and went through the passage way to the next room but was stopped from going on any further as there was a fire in my way."

"Ah yes, we've identified her as J, another high ranking officer from Sektor's army. We have her in custody as well. She told us that she told you where to find Sektor. Is this correct?"

"Yeah she said I'd find him in the main hall. When I got there it was already ablaze."

"You have a water Pokémon correct?"

"Yeah."

"Why did you not attempt to put the fire out then?" Cynthia remained silent for a few seconds. Even though she hadn't killed Sektor directly, her refusal to keep him alive would not look good in front of the police.

"It was very strong. And I smelt petrol." She suppressed a small smile; they'd be hard pressed to find anything wrong in that answer.

"Hmm. Fine. Everyone that we've apprehended so far has made mention of two Pokémon helping you out. A black Charizard and an unknown species, possibly robotic based. Care to explain."

"I didn't see anything. I think you'll have to look at the surveillance footage…."

"We have. There's not a hair's sight of the two but it is clear to the both of us that the footage has been tampered with. Quite brilliantly so but still tampered with. What do you make of that Miss Champion?"

"Uhm…err…Well maybe the grunts tampered with the tape. You know to remove some of the more atrocious experiments that they were doing to Pokémon."

"What and leave in the less atrocious ones?"

"Maybe they didn't have time to take out everything."

"So some grunts have the know-how and the awareness to remove any degrading footage before the police show up and confiscate it. Likely story ain't it?"

'_God dam it woman! Say that they are making the story up. Whose word are they going to take? A bunch of criminals or the champion?' _Cynthia just about kept it together as Mewtwo's voice rang in her head.

"Or maybe they are just making the story of the two Pokémon up. It's a much simpler explanation detective. After all it sounds better to be beaten up by two big unknown Pokémon rather than a small girl does it not?" The detectives stopped taking noted and looked up at her. Silence filled the room as the two detectives were stunned by Cynthia. Finally after a couple minutes of awkward stares they spoke up.

"OK we'll cut the crap. We recovered a body on the top floor. A man was burnt to death up there. We know you were up there. Who is he and how did he burn to death?"

"I don't know, and like I said before, it was already burning. Now if that's all I would like to head back home." Cynthia didn't bother to look for a response as she got up and left the two detectives in the truck. As she walked through the door she tried to keep out of sight of any lurking reporters, but to no avail. They flocked around her almost as soon as she had walked out. The questions came thick and fast, she could barely distinguish one question from another as the reporters talked over one another, eager to get the first scoop. Any questions that she could make, she dead batted, refusing to get sucked in and give any information away.

'_C and I are heading back to Celestic Town. Meet you there.'_ Cynthia jumped as Mewtwo's voice suddenly popped into her head. She cursed the psychic Pokémon for making her jump. _'If he could at least give me some warning before he did that.' _she thought to herself.

'_Would you like me to use a bell next time?'_ Mewtwo asked her sarcastically, apparently reading her thoughts.

'_You could have least give me some help here, instead of leaving me to these reporters.'_ Cynthia grumbled back.

'_What and miss out the fun of watching you struggle. I think not. Besides the only way that I could help is by erasing everyone's mind. And forgive me but I might be wrong here, wouldn't that be considered unethical by humans?'_ Mewtwo asked in a mocking tone. Cynthia cursed him while he laughed back.

The walk back to Celestic Town took longer than she had expected. In part due to the multitude of reporters that dogged her all the way. In took her seven attempts in total before she finally shook them off. As soon as she reached her home town she headed straight to the hospital and the room in the ICU where Red was. Inside were the rest of Red's Pokémon and her family who greeted her fondly. But her eyes were drawn to the man who was lying on the bed.

He wore a white hospital gown but Cynthia could still see that his skin was pale and gaunt. His hair had lost its glean and seemed coarser than before. Even his scars seemed more pronounced. The entire left side of his chest had been covered up by a mix of bandages and wires which were connected to machines and fluids. A clear plastic mask covered his mouth and nose and a tube delivered oxygen to it from a medical ventilator placed next to the bed. Her eyes then moved over to his right leg. It was if there was an exoskeleton surrounding it. Metal bars formed a frame around his lower thigh and upper calf while smaller, thinner bars jutted in and out of the leg to keep it straight.

"So you got him then." Cynthia's attention swung back to her grandfather. She gave him a confused look, how had he found out so quickly. He motioned to a corner of the room in response where a small television, though muted, sat. The channel was broadcasting a news report about the events that had occurred in Veilstone City. There were shots of the police arresting people, Pokémon being freed from experiments and even some scenes of Cynthia with the paramedic, the two detectives and her 'interviews' with the media. She recounted what had happened to her family. They responded in fashion with her grandmother fretting over her safety, her grandfather congratulating her and her sister squeezing her tightly. Cynthia was oblivious to them though, her attention still fixed on Red.

"Could I get some time with Red?" she asked softly. Her grandparents got the gist of what she was saying and they left the room dragging Carla along with them. Red's Pokémon moved aside as she approached the bed, sitting down in the chair next to it. Her head was down, she couldn't bring her herself to look him in the eye.

"Red… This is all my ….." She felt something brush her arm. Looking down she saw Red's right hand gingerly moving around. She grasped it with her own hand and held it gently. Finally she looked up and into Red's eyes. They were the complete opposite to the rest of his body. Vibrant and alive, the deep brown eyes burnt brighter than ever, and the red tint shining through. There was no need for words; just the look in his eyes was enough to tell her everything she needed to know. She smiled back and leaned closer towards him, her hair now falling onto his face. She laughed a little at the rueful smile that appeared under the oxygen mask as she brushed her hair out of the way. Her face was now so close to his, their noses almost touching.

"Miss I'm sorry but I must insist that he be given time to rest now." Cynthia turned around to see a nurse standing in the doorway.

"I'm sorry but he really does need to rest now." Cynthia faintly glared at the nurse before turning back to Red. He gave her a small wink and released his grip on her hand. She wanted to protest, she wanted to stay and take care of him herself but she was stopped from doing so by his eyes. Once more his eyes were more powerful and meaningful than any words could be. Reluctantly she stood up though she still refused to let go of his hand and continued to look straight into his eyes.

"The Pokémon also have to leave Miss." Cynthia didn't have time to protect her ears from the uproar of Red's Pokémon. They did approve of the nurses comments and took several minutes to calm down. It took an even longer time for them to agree to leave (Cynthia suspected that Red had somehow managed to convince them to leave).

* * *

It wasn't long before Cynthia and her family settled back into their routine, the only difference being that they would look after Red whenever they could. Cynthia even thought about resigning from her post as champion so that she could spend more time with Red but she was dissuaded by him when she told him, a sharp grip of her hand and fierce look in his eyes forced her to reject the notion.

As for Red's Pokémon, with the exception of C (who constantly circled the hospital from above, making sure of Red's safety, only returning to Cynthia's house to sleep), made themselves comfortable in their house. Pikka was fascinated by anything electronic, especially their widescreen television and Cynthia's new Pokédex, even though it was exactly the same as the old one with the only difference being that it was thinner and had a larger screen. Though Mewtwo refused to take of its armour when he was around the rest of her family, he took a shining to Sinnoh tea and single-handedly consumed three months worth in just two and a half days.

Bob seemed to be enjoying himself the most; he seemed to treat this as a holiday and acted more jovial than ever. He also teased and pulled pranks on Cynthia's grandmother to the encouragement and pleasure of Cynthia and her grandfather. Carla and Vee had struck up a friendship as well and Cynthia would often find the two of them together, Vee curled up on Carla's lap as her little sister tenderly stroked the little Pokémon. And finally there was Lucy. The Lucario followed her almost everywhere. It was almost as if she had been assigned a bodyguard and she had sneaking feeling that indeed this was the case. Lucy would train with her, stepping up the intensity whenever she trained with Cynthia's Lucario. The two of them got along very well so Cynthia often let her Lucario out so that the two of them could play.

* * *

It had been three weeks now and Cynthia was making her way back to the hospital with Lucy in tow after completing her duties as champion for the day. She had picked up a lasagne from home on the way as Red had become partial to them; she was exited to go as the doctors had finally taken the ventilator of Red last night allowing him to talk back to her (he had been given an inhaler for whenever he had any breathing problems).

When she walked into Red's room she found Carla sitting at the foot of his bed holding some cards with Vee curled up on her lap. Pikka was sitting next to her also holding some cards and there was at the head of the bed with his back up against the headboard was Red. Though he was not hooked up to as many machines as before there were still quite a few monitoring his heart rate and blood pressure; there was also a small tube that went up into both his nostrils, presumably to check his breathing. Like Carla and Vee he held cards, it looked as though the three of them were playing 'Pairs'.

He smiled as he noticed them; Lucy ran up to him and greeted him affectionately, he responded in kind by scratching her ear before moving his hand down to her belly giving the Lucario a curious look. Lucy nibbled at his fingers before turning away to Pikka.

"Hey sis! What do you have there?" Cynthia was drawn away from this curious behaviour by her sister.

"Oh. It's a lasagne for Red. Grandma made it." She unwrapped the package and handed it to Red who accepted it gratefully.

"Awesome. Got a spare fork Red?"

"Carla! Grandma made that for Red. You'll get your tea when you get home. Speaking of which, shouldn't you be there right now, doing your homework."

"Already done it. Did it here with Red."

"Well Red?" Cynthia turned to Red giving him a serious look.

"Ermm…." Red looked away from her and scratched the back of his head.

"Go home and do your homework. Would you mind taking her?" she sad the last bit to Lucy who nodded in response.

"Red! Uh. C'mon Vee lets go." Carla tickled the Eevee awake before getting off the bed. She glared at Cynthia as she prepared to leave but a wicked smile came over her, then she walked over to Red.

"Bye Red." She said airily before planting a kiss on his cheek. She winked at him and turned to leave with Lucy and Vee while giving Cynthia a mischievous smile just before she left.

Cynthia glared at her sister's back as she exited the room; she would have to get revenge. She looked back at Red, his face had turned the colour of his name and his face was comically confused. Mouth agape, right eyebrow raised and nose scrunched up. Cynthia couldn't help but laugh at it, he responded with a sheepish grin and an embarrassed scratch of his head.

"You should eat that before it turns cold." Cynthia nodded at the lasagne that was still in Red's hand. He smiled eagerly at her as he removed the lid, grabbing a fork he set to work.

She liked watching him eat; it wasn't what you'd call a well mannered way of eating nor was it a method that would put you of. Like almost everything Red did it was done in silence and with efficiency, when he had almost finished the morsel in his mouth he'd get a helping ready to be delivered as soon as he had finished said morsel. But it was the focus that captured Cynthia. Whenever Red did something, she always got the sense that his mind was partially on something else, even when she had spared with Red she got this feeling. Not so when he was eating. His eyes burnt brighter and were fixated on the food in front of him. She watched him eat for a few more minutes before she spoke up.

"So?"

"Hmm?"

"How does it feel to have the ventilator of?" Red stopped eating and looked up, he bit his bottom lip as he thought.

"Good."

"Really? That's it?" Red simply nodded and carried on eating. Cynthia exaggerated a sigh.

"Sometimes Red. Anyways, it means that you can leave here soon!"

"Oh right….Where will they send me?"

"Don't be silly! You're coming back home with me."

"Oh." He looked straight at her for a few seconds before he smiled warmly at her making her look down to conceal her blush. Cynthia looked back up as soon as her face had returned to its normal colour. Red was finishing eating the lasagne, Pikka was helping with to finish it of completely (the little mouse had put on a bit of weight since living with them).

"Hey Red, can I ask you a couple of questions?" She had wanted to ask him these questions for a long time now but she had wanted him to recover his strength first. Red stared into her, tilting his down towards his left shoulder. A small smirk appeared on his face before he nodded. Anyone other than Cynthia would have missed it (she knew his mannerisms now, easily able to pick up on the slightest change of muscle movement).

"Cool, well yeah, so first question. Ha-ha. So you know I said that I out your jewellery in our safe. Well I couldn't help but…"

"Redmond."

"Sorry?"

"My name's Redmond but don't call me that."

"And what about G? What does…?"

"Surname. Never found out." Cynthia nodded at Red, impressed that he was able to second guess her questions (she wanted to know why he didn't know his surname but didn't press the matter, a conversation for another time).

"OK, what about the shard you gave Sektor..?"

"Fake."

"Yeah I kind of figured that. So where's the real one?"

"Hidden." Cynthia grinned a little, she knew Red would not give away the location but she thought she had an idea of where it could be, the blocked room in his small cave did seem rather mysterious.

"OK. How did Sektor not realise it was a fake?"

"Four years." Red smiled at her. Cynthia understood that Red had a lot of time to himself when he was up on Mt Silver but this didn't satisfy her.

"But where did you get the materials?"

"Found a flute that led me to a hall."

"What? That doesn't make any sense. Don't tease me. Red?" Red simply smiled back at her. She grinned back, she knew that she wasn't going to get much else out of Red; this was his probably his polite way of refusing to answer a question.

"All right then, next question. Why did Sektor not shoot you in the head? I mean he's smart enough to know that the calibre of bullet that he used is only fatal if you hit the head or heart. Why not aim for your head and guarantee the kill. Not that I wished you were dead! You can't imagine how happy I am that he went for your heart and missed." She added as she saw Red's horrified face which promptly turned to a grin as Cynthia flustered about. Red squinted for a moment, face contorted in thought before it returned to normal.

"Criminals are stupid." He sighed causing Cynthia to burst out laughing.

"Really that's all you got?" Red grinned at her once again before looking away into space.

"That and some silly metaphor thing. You know breaking my heart both mentally and physically." Cynthia's smile vanished; she knew what Red was talking about. There were a few uneasy few seconds before Red turned back to her and small smile back on his face.

"Like I said though, criminals are stupid." The tension vanished from the room and the two of spent the remaining time chatting about Cynthia day dealing with her duties as champion and her training.

"Do you like Flint?" Red asked after Cynthia had finished complaining about said Elite Four member.

"Well he's really annoying and all but he's still a friend."

"No I mean…" Red tailed of.

"Oh No! Why do you think that?"

"You talk about him. A lot." Cynthia could feel her temperature sky rocket; she mumbled a few inaudible words as she desperately tried to avoid eye contact with Red.

"Sorry what?" Red asked her.

"I… erm… like someone else." She stood up and walked over to the nearby table, making an excuse that she wanted to inspect Red's inhaler. As she moved the object in between her finger she noticed two leaflets on the desk. She picked them up. One was titled 'Life in a Wheelchair' while the other was 'Amputation. What you need to know'. Cynthia turned back around; she held the two leaflets up and gave Red a quizzical look. His smile faded, an iron clad determination replacing it.

"I want to walk again." She walked back towards him, her gaze fixated on his right leg. Unlike the rest of his body, it hadn't improved. Metal bars still jutted in and out forming an exoskeleton around it, and the amount of painkillers he needed a day was absurdly high. She sat down and grasped his hand.

"Red I…. Give it time; your leg might heal…." Tears were forming in her eyes; Red smiled warmly at her but shook his head.

"They did some test yesterday." He said softly to her.

"My patella and tibia are beyond repair." Cynthia nodded and tightened her grip on his hand.

"What are the risks if you go for the amputation?"

"Just a few minor things."

"Red." She said forcefully; she needed to know the answer this time. He sighed a little and looked down.

"It might get infected or it might not heal properly." He paused.

"And?"

"I could get a blood clot. It could travel to my bad lung and…" Cynthia squeezed his hand even tighter.

"Promise me you won't go for the amputation. Wheelchair life won't be so bad, I can…"

"I can't promise that."

"Why Red? You've risked your life already why do you want to do it again? People, your Pokémon, I, we'll still love and accept you…"

"It's not that." He looked away for her again, his face stone like.

"I need to finish something. I need to be able to walk." He turned back towards her. She saw the fire and determination his eyes; she knew that she wouldn't be able to sway his mind.

"Oh Red. Why are you so stubborn?" She buried her head into his shoulder as he let out a small chuckle. He rested his head on her and cupped her head with his free hand.

"Don't worry. I'm pretty good at beating the odds." She giggled and lifted her head of his shoulder to face him once again. Their noses were so close they were all but touching, he half smiled at her and she leaned in.

"I'm sorry Miss but he needs his rest now." Cynthia quickly turned around to see the same nurse that had stopped her before. She suppressed a frown before turning back to Red.

"I swear she has it in for us." He whispered in her ear. Cynthia laughed a little as tears started to form again. She stroked his cheek before she forced herself to her feet. Pikka jumped onto her shoulder as she slowly backed away.

"I'll see you tomorrow." She gazed longingly at him, her feet refusing to turn around. Red gave her a wink and a small wave. She stood at the doorway for a few moments; still facing him before eventually she dragged herself away from him.

She didn't see him lie back down on his bed and place his left hand on his chest. Nor did she hear him utter one word.

"Cynthia."

* * *

**AN: I had been planning to try and get this out on Wednesday, but one thing after another prevented me from writing this. Final year of uni sucks :( Anyways hope you enjoyed it. Oh and as some of you may know I have recently tried something new. It would be awesome if I could get your thoughts on that - with this fic creeping towards its end I'm thinking of future things to write, I've got a couple of ideas lined up so far but your input is always welcomed (judging by the almost complete lack of feedback so far, I think its a no go on the poems lol).**

**But that's all for now. Thanks for reading and as always rate, review, you know the usual deal!**

**Cheers!**

**92fd**


	16. New Year

**AN: As always I do not own anything related to Pokemon**

* * *

Cynthia, her family and all of Red's Pokémon (with Mewtwo disguised under his brown cloak) were making their way towards the hospital. It was time. The group made their way into the hospital and towards Red's room. Inside, lying on his bed was the man they had come to see. Men and woman in green scrubs surrounded him, paying close attention to his right leg.

Finally the surgeons left his room allowing for the party to enter. Though still hooked up to a few machines, the braces around his right leg were gone. Instead it lay awkwardly on the bed at an angle. There were marks above the knee indicating were the cut would take place. Cynthia looked at Red. He smiled at her. She knew that he was trying to look at ease and determined, pretending as though everything was all right. But the faint line that the right part of his mouth made told her the opposite. He was nervous over what was about to happen.

"It's not too late to back out now." Cynthia took hold of his hand and sat down next to his bed. Red's facial expression changed. His grin changed into a mock frown and his left eyebrow rose up. She laughed a little at him before he returned his expression to a warm smile. Despite the humour that the two of them just shared, she knew that Red meant everything he had conveyed through his expression. He would not be a cripple in constant pain and dependant on painkillers and others for the rest of his life. To him it was worth the risk.

The group passed the time by telling each other about what was new in their lives and by sharing jokes with one another, often at Cynthia's grandmother's expense. Until a nurse came to deliver Red his anaesthetic. It wasn't long before he fell unconscious at which point they wheeled him out to surgery. The group followed up until they reached the waiting room where they were left. They sat there waiting anxiously, their fingernails getting shorter with each progressive minute. Three hours passed before a man in green scrubs approached them. Cynthia stood up straight away and ran towards him, concern written all over her face.

"Well?" she asked nervously. The man beamed at her, putting her fears to rest.

"The operation was a success. There was a slight complication resulting from a slight abnormality in his bone structure. But all it means is that the prosthetic will have to be modified to fit. Along with the condition with his left lung, it will mean that his physiotherapy might take slightly longer than usual." Cynthia nodded though she wasn't listening fully; she was just pleased that Red had pulled through.

"Can we see him?"

"Yes. He's in his room; the anaesthetic is still wearing off. Wait! I must warn you that patients…." Cynthia didn't heed the rest of what the surgeon had said; instead she made her way to his room so that she could be with him. Her face was adorned with a wide smile, her joy increasing as she got closer to his room, reaching its climax just as she entered.

Her joy evaporated as she him laying there, a stump now in place where his leg should have been. Gingerly she walked towards him, trying not to wake him up. As she sat down in the seat next to his bed, it let a small creak. Red stirred, muttering something inaudible. He scrunched his eyes and let out a yawn before he looked at her sleepily.

"Hey Cynthia! What up?" She smiled warmly at him. He returned it with his own though there was something wrong with it. There was no other word for it, he looked goofy. He continued to smile in this way before he failed his arms in an attempt of a wave.

"Red? Are you OK?" she asked, full of concern. Red looked away dreamily for a second before replying.

"I'm as high as Mother Fucker!" Cynthia's mouth gaped open, she couldn't believe what Red has just said.

"You don't look so good Cynthia. You could say you're on your last leg." Red said as he burst into sniggers.

"Er…"

"I'm sorry that joke was _lame!_" Red was now bellowing out in laughter. Cynthia didn't know whether to be concerned or to laugh along with Red. Fortunately she was saved as her family and Red's Pokémon entered the room just in time to hear Red.

"The doctor said that some patients may have a reaction to the anaesthetic, it should wear of eventually." Her grandmother explained to Cynthia after she had given them a quizzical looks.

'_At least this explains his behaviour. But wait how would he know what taking drugs feels like?'_ Cynthia thought. She looked over to large imposing figure under the brown cloak who shifted around uncomfortably. She had knew that he had been reading her thoughts.

'_Well Mewtwo?'_

'_So we found this plant on Mt Silver and we tested it out. For medicinal purposes.'_

'_Sure you did.'_ She scowled at the Psychic Pokémon then returned her gaze to Red. He seemed oblivious to his Pokémon and her grandparents entering the room as he continued to smile at Cynthia with the same goofy look. He tried to take her hand but his judgment was off and he fell short. She looked on him in pity and compassion and his hand in her own.

"Cynthia. You are the most amazing beautiful girl I've ever met." Carla let out an 'aww', Vee and Lucy made cute affectionate growls while Bob and Pikka shared sniggers. Cynthia felt herself getting very hot even though Red was not acting anything like himself.

"Anyways, I would just like to say that.…" at that precise moment there was a knock on the door. Red's nurse walked in holding some sheets. She looked at the group nervously.

"Sorry to interrupt. I just have to update his folder." She waved the sheets and pointed to a folder attached the front of the bed. She made to enter the room but before she took more than two steps Red spoke up.

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! WHOA!" Everyone turned to Red in surprise and shock. No one had heard him this loud before.

"What in the blue hell is wrong with you?" He demanded of the nurse. Who flustered around.

"You come in here when I'm trying to have a moment with this woman." He pointed to Cynthia. "You ruin the moment and now stop me from telling her that I think I love her." Carla smiled mischievously at her sister, who looked down, her cheeks now pinker than ever.

"Are you trying to sabotage me?"

"I erm….."

"It doesn't matter what you're trying to do! What matter's is that if you don't get out, I'm gonna get out of this bed, take that folder, shine it up real nice, turn that son o'bitch sideways and STICK IT STRAIGHT UP YOUR CANDY ASS!" There was a moments silence before Carla, Cynthia's grandfather, Bob and Pikka started chuckling.

"And that's the bottom line because the great one said so!" Red finished failing back onto his bed in a heap falling asleep almost immediately. At this point both Bob and Pikka were near bursting and even Cynthia's grandmother had a faint smile on her face.

"I'm terribly sorry." Cynthia tried to apologise. "He's not normally like this." The nurse simply smiled wryly.

"No need. We get a lot of patients who act strangely when under anaesthetic. Although I must say he is one of the stranger one." She added the sheets to the folder before bowing at them and made her way out.

"Well I think we should leave too. Give Red some rest and time to recover from his err predicament." Her sister tried to protest but a scowl form her grandmother quietened her down. Soon after the group made to leave (though C decided to remain and watch over Red for a little longer), but before she left Cynthia leaned close into Red.

"So you think you love me Red? Well I think I love you too." She muttered into his ear before kissing his cheek.

* * *

Cynthia visited Red every evening after his operation. Though there conversations were extremely one sided, with Red becoming more silent than ever. It was a whole week before red would stop blushing whenever she came to visit and another two weeks before he plucked up the courage to look at her again. For the most part she talked about her daily chores as champion (mostly how Flint had been causing more trouble for her again) and on occasion she mentioned the upcoming World Tournament, now just a few months away. But what she most wanted to talk about was his rehabilitation. And to her annoyance he gave the same answer all the time, 'K'.

Red had been fitted with a carbon fibre leg with hydraulic knee joint that was tailored for his particular needs. She had heard that he was making good progress, he had learnt to stand with any aid in just a day and that he could now walk around the room by himself. It wouldn't be long before they would let him leave the hospital for good. However she got the feeling that he was frustrated. The doctors told her it was normal for patients but she knew that this was not the full story. There was just one thing holding him back, slowing down his full recovery time. His left lung.

It was reason that whenever she took him out for evening; he had to take a wheelchair. It prevented him from jogging and if truth be told; it probably meant that he could never run again.

"So? How was rehabilitation today?" she asked, expecting the usual answer.

"Two days."

"What?" she was caught off guard.

"Then I can leave… I'll still have checkups but…yeah" He smiled ruefully at her, ruffling the back of his hair. She launched herself upon him, embracing him so tightly that he gasped for air. She let go of him and apologised sheepishly.

"That's great news! It means you can spend the New Year with us properly!" Red beamed back at her, he tried to say something but he couldn't find the words. Cynthia smiled back, and hugged him again.

And so two days later, Red moved out of the hospital and into their house. The first problem they had was where Red would sleep; he politely suggested that he take the couch in their living room with Cynthia insisting that he take her room. Carla did not help matters when she suggested that Red could share her bed with her. The two argued all day before Red finally relented and trod up to Cynthia's room.

"So how are we going to introduce him to our friends?" Carla asked as Red left.

"What?"

"Our traditional New Year's Eve party? We have to explain him being here and we can't exactly say that he's Red."

"I didn't think we would be having a party this year. I mean look at all that's happened to us."

"What? But I told all my friends that it was still on! And I may have told them that I've got a lot of cool new Pokémon to show them." Cynthia sighed, knowing she meant Red's team. She motioned for her sister to follow her. The two walked into the kitchen where her grandfather was having a late morning tea.

"We're not having a New Year's Eve party this time are we?"

"I shouldn't think so. We've just come out from a difficult patch and we have Red to think about." Her grandfather said peering up from his tea.

"But granddad! It's traditional! All my friends are waiting for us to throw one. And besides, Red's practically part of our family now." She threw a devilish look at Cynthia. "He should be a part of our family traditions." Carla batted her eyelids at her grandfather and put on a look that Cynthia knew would melt her grandfather.

"Ask Red if he will be OK with it."

"You're the best grandpa!" Carla gave her grandfather a huge hug before planting a kiss on his forehead. Cynthia glared at her sister then turned back to go ask Red about the party (her sister catching up to her on the stairs).

"Hey Red, it's Cynthia." She knocked on the door. Red made a sound and she took it to mean that she could come in. The two sisters entered the room, finding Red hastily pulling on a black T-shirt. They chuckled at the sight with Red smiling ruefully back at them.

"So erm Red. We normally have a New Year's Eve party. I didn't think we'd have one this year but someone has told her friends that it's still on. We can cancel it if you don't feel up to it if you want." Red tilted his head to one side and raised an eyebrow seemingly deep in thought. Suddenly he gave them a half smile and nodded his head.

"Thanks red you're awesome!" Carla cried, rushing out to tell her grandfather of the decision. Cynthia sighed.

"You know she's a big girl. She could have handled the disappointment." Red simply wrinkled his nose and shrugged his shoulders. Cynthia laughed, shaking her head and made her way out.

New Year's Eve came, all of Carla's friends turned up and headed straight for Red's team of Pokémon all of whom (with the exception of Mewtwo who decided to spend the party under the cloak and stay in the background with Red) were pleased to have children to play with. Not long after, their grandparents friends arrived and then Cynthia's friends. It was great to see her friends again as they filled her in the latest gossip and yearned for answers about what had happened to her (the details of her encounter with Sektor had yet to be made public). But she couldn't stop herself from looking at Red every once in a while. He had said hello to a few people but had found it socialise any further. Now he was sat outside in the back garden next to Mewtwo resting against the now sleeping great form of his Charizard. Every now and then she thought she caught him staring at her only to find him looking completely in the opposite direction. She heard the doorbell ring and she got up to let in the late arrivals.

"Waaaass Up?" Before she had any time to respond she was lifted up onto the shoulder of a twenty year old man with a wild red afro.

"Hey Cynthia. Sorry for being late. We had to stop of and get some supplies." A similarly aged man with spiky blonde hair and blue eyes walked into her house behind them. In his arms, he carried a massive crate of Heineken and some equally massive speakers.

"Only one crate of beer this time? Are you guys actually maturing?"

"Don't worry we've got four more in the back of Flint's car." Cynthia groaned in exasperation as the three made their way into the house. When they had reached the rest of their group of friends Volkner set up the speakers while Flint dumped Cynthia into a chair.

"Let's get this shit started!" Flint yelled as Volkner chucked him a beer, immediately cracking it open and downing it in one attempt. Cynthia looked over at Red, a bemused look on his face. The next few hours were a blur to Cynthia as she tried to have conversations and fun with the rest of her friends but had dodge and hide from Flint and Volkner as the two of them tried to fill her with alcohol. She was hiding out in the back garden when she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Jumping from shock, she quickly turned around; calming down when she saw who it was.

"Having fun?" Red asked; the same bemused smile still on his face.

"I can't believe those two. How they pass for a gym leader and an elite four member is beyond me. And I didn't even invite them nor have I done for the last couple of years. All they do is run amok and cause havoc. Oh and don't you start, I bet you love watching me run around like a crazy lady!" As Red started to snigger at her rant.

"Yo Cynthia I've been looking everywhere for you." The two turned to see Flint approach them.

"Here you go." Flint handed Cynthia a pint glass which she reluctantly took.

"What's in it?" she asked nervously.

"I've always found it to be more interesting to find out what's in a drink when drinking the actual drink. You get me?"

"Right sure."

"So who's your friend?"

"Oh erm this is erm Barry, Barry Trotter." Red gave Flint a nervous half smile and stuck out his hand which Flint took though he weighed Red up and down while he shook it.

"Anyway. Cynthia. You're single. I'm single. We'd make a great couple for the New Year's tradition. What do you say?" Cynthia sighed deeply before responding.

"My answer is the same as it was last year and the year before that. Besides I'm no longer single." She clasped Red's hand as she finished, who looked at her in a mixture of confusion and amazement. Luckily Flint didn't notice and started to back away.

"Oh right sorry dude. My bad. Erm have a beer on me. Better leave you two alone then huh?" He said as he handed Red a beer before backing away from them. They stood alone for a couple of minutes, hands still locked; Red gaping at her still in shock, Cynthia looking down at the ground trying to conceal her blush.

"So?" Red finally spoke. "You were….. Trying to get him to leave…..right?" For once it was Cynthia who was lost for words. She continued to clasp onto his hand but dared not look up. She was afraid that he would let go and try to leave but he didn't. They just continued to stand in their in a peaceful though a bit awkward silence. Cynthia would check her watch every now and again; expecting hours to go have gone, only to find that minutes had.

"Fuck it!" she finally spoke after checking her watch again. She pulled Red down and planted her lips on his just as fireworks went off signalling the beginning of the New Year.

The caress of his lips was softer than she imagined, she tasted tentatively with her tongue and after a moments hesitation he responded in kind. His lips brushed against hers as she felt passion course through her causing her to shake uncontrollably. She raised her hands above her head, allowing him to wrap his arms around her waist and hold her tightly as he began to kiss her lips. She moaned softly, kissing back to the best of her ability. Moments later, she felt his wet tongue slide between her lips. She greeted it with her own tongue, feeling his moist breath in her mouth.

As they rubbed their tongues against each other, she felt his hands slide up her back and to her neck. She squirmed playfully as he caressed her neck lightly and wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. They kissed passionately, holding each other in their warm embrace, expressing their unspoken love. After what felt like eons to her, their mouths finally parted, and their eyes finally met. They continued to hold each other, silently staring into each others eyes. After giving him a watery smile, she placed her head against his chest. The beating of his heart was audible, an indication that he felt the same way she did. He stroked her hair gently, planting a loving kiss on her head and then nuzzling his nose against it.

"Hey lover birds!" Their serenity was broken as turned to see Carla and her friends giggling at them.

"We have something to show you." She beckoned for the duo to follow them. They were led to where all their Pokémon were gathered. At the centre of which stood Cynthia's Lucario looking proud and Lucy who look tired but full of joy. In between the two lay a blue egg with black zigzag stripes around it.

"You know what they say. Pokémon mimic the behaviour of their trainers." Carla piped up. "I suppose that since Lucy is your Pokémon that makes it your egg." She continued looking Red. He bent over to nuzzle the two Lucarios speaking to them without making any sound as was his way of things. Gently he picked up the egg, looking it over before nodding in approval. He glanced over at Cynthia giving her a smile before he turned towards Carla. Leaning down towards her he whispered in her ear.

"Take good care of it and a Happy New Year." As he placed the egg in her hands.

* * *

**AN: Finally I'm back! I would like to apologise for how late this update was. Uni is a bitch. When I finally got some free time I did kinda want to just relax and watch movies and play the Xbox so I did keep putting this off, my bad sorry! But it's finally here, the penultimate chapter and they've finally kissed. I got to admit that was the hardest thing that I've had to write. Hopefully it wasn't too bad.**

**Anyway as always rate, review and subscribe! And stay tuned for the last chapter (I promise I'll try to get it out as soon as possible)**

**Cheers!**

**92fd **


	17. Stepping out from a Shadow

**AN: Seriously do I need to say I don't own Pokemon still, isn't just a give now? *sigh* Well here it is! So lets get this thing started!**

* * *

A noise stirred Cynthia awake. She blinked a few times as a bright light stung her eye. A couple more blink later and she grew accustomed to it, finding that it was still dark and that the light had been coming from the laptop on her desk. Scanning the room she found Red wide awake sitting with his back to her at the end of her bed. She then remembered what a wonderful night, last night had been. But something was wrong now. He was fully clothed and he was trying to put on his leg. She quickly scanned the room again and noticed a packed rucksack near the door. What was he doing? Was he leaving? He turned and around and saw her awake.

"Hey." He spoke softly and smiled lovingly at her. She was still tired and very confused but she pulled herself up to his eye level.

"What's going on?" Nervousness and fear in her tone. Red moved closer towards her and tried to reassure her. But it was obvious that he had to tell her what was going on.

"I have two things to do." Red paused.

"Please Red. Tell me." After a deep breath and another pause, Red told her.

"I never said sorry…" he couldn't go on so reached down his shirt and pulled out his silver chain. Cynthia looked at the chain and then at the laptop puting two and two together.

"So where are they?"

"Azalea Town."

"You know it wasn't your fault Red." He blanked her and Cynthia knew she wasn't going to be able to change his mind.

"All right. What's the second thing that you need to do?" she continued.

"I need to pick up a couple things from my cave." He said quietly. Cynthia nodded and then got out of bed. Red gave her a quizzical look as she got dressed.

"I can help you carry your things back from the cave." She lied; the truth was she wanted to be there for Red when he faced Leaf's parents, just in case he needed any support. Fortunately for her, he seemed to buy her lie.

"But… it's only a couple of things." Confusion spread across his face.

"I insist." She said firmly as she finished getting ready. Red shook his head and chuckled before leaning in and kissing her on the forehead causing Cynthia to blush. She still couldn't believe that the two of them were now a proper couple.

"All right." He said and he took her hand, grabbed his Pokéballs of the desk, picked up his rucksack from the floor and led her out to the front garden. Once outside he called forth the mighty black lizard who smiled and chuckled mischievously once he saw them holding hands. Red shook his head in annoyance causing C to let out another chuckle before he leant down for the two of them to get on. He helped her on before getting on behind her; he patted the great Charizard and spoke to him in his special way.

With a beat of his wings and swish of his tail, C took off and gained in altitude. Cynthia had never felt acceleration like this; the wind rushed against her face causing her long hair flow behind her (she smiled to herself at this, perhaps it wasn't the best idea for Red to sit behind her) as excitement flowed through her. It wasn't long before they reached the clouds at which point C started to level off. Their placed slowed as soared through the clouds; Cynthia couldn't stop herself from letting go of C and reaching out to feel the wispy clouds that surrounded them. She turned to look at Red who was trying to look through her hair that fluttered behind her; she knew that the C was not taxing himself and that they could go much faster. Red must have told C to take it slow to try to impress her.

"It worked." She called out.

"What?"

"I'm impressed, this is awesome." Through her hair she could make out that red was beaming, she smiled herself before returning her grip on C. They continued their serene journey, stopping on deserted islands that Red had discovered through his travels for food and water. At the end of the day they took refuge on a particularly picturesque island.

"How did you find this place?" Cynthia asked stunned at the beauty of the island.

"Got lost." Red chuckled back.

It was late on their second day of travel when they arrived in Azalea Town, with C landing in front of house on the outskirts of the small sleepy town.

"This the place?" Cynthia asked Red.

"Yeah." He replied as he recalled C. His voice was faint and he shook a little as he made his way forward. He stopped short of the door and looked down at the ground, his shaking becoming more prominent.

"Hey." Cynthia held his arm. "I'm here for you." He turned towards her and looked her in her eyes. The deep brown with a tint of red met the grey. It calmed him down and stopped his shaking. He took a deep breath, took a step forward and rang the bell. A few seconds later a woman in her late forties or early fifties with amber eyes answered the door.

"Mrs Green…" Red began but he was cut of as she hugged him unexpectedly.

"Red" she muttered.

Mrs Green led them inside where they met her husband. He seemed similar in age, with a bushy white moustache and dazzling emerald eyes. They were led into the living room where Mrs Green served them tea. They sat in silence, Cynthia knew that Red was trying to say something but was trying to find the right words to say. Finally he spoke up.

"I…."

"We know son." Mr Green spoke up. "It wasn't your fault. You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened. As for what you've done to yourself all these years, she wouldn't want you to have done that. She would want you to move on and live your life for the two of you." Red nodded and sipped his tea. Mr Green quickly changed the subject onto what Cynthia had been up to recently and her hopes for the upcoming tournament, which they talked about for the remainder of their visit. Just before they were about to leave Red stopped and took of his silver chain handing it to Mrs Green. Tears formed in her eyes as she gratefully took it embracing Red as she did so. He nodded and smiled at them one final time before making his exit.

"You Ok?" Cynthia asked him as the two walked over to the Pokémon centre where they would stay the night. He nodded remaining silent throughout.

They woke early the next morning to avoid unwanted attention. Red called C out and the three of them made their way to Mt Silver and to that familiar cave where he had spent four years of his life. Once there he called out all of his team. Bob pushed aside the boulder that blocked the entrance. They all entered the room; it was exactly how they left it. Vee collected her book collection from the makeshift bookshelf while Lucy and Red picked up a familiar red jacket and cap. And with that they left. As they walked out Red nodded to Mewtwo. The Psychic's eyes shone blue as he destroyed the cave making sure that everything was buried underneath a pile of stone and rubble with Bob placing the finishing touches as rolled the boulder on top.

"So what now?" Cynthia asked. Red tilted his head and half smiled at Cynthia.

"Firstly, this bracelet." He paused to point at his old bracelet on his left wrist. "It should belong to a girl." He took it off and threw it to Cynthia. She caught it then gaped at Red, she understood the significance of what she had just been given. She embraced him hard, so hard that they fell down into the snow.

"Sorry." She said sheepishly as she helped him up and waited for him to catch his breath back.

"Secondly…" he panted grinning at her. Pikka held up the faded red cap which he took.

"I have a title to defend." He said as put on the cap.

Epilogue

Fireworks went of signifying the last match of the day. The knockout stages of the Pokémon World Tournament had begun.

"Welcome back ladies and gentlemen as we are about to begin the final match of the first day of knock out competition. As always you are here with me Rick Joss alongside Hall of Famer, Larry 'The King' Jawler. And how good is it to be back King?"

"Boy you said it RJ. I thought I'd never see the day when the PWT would return. The greatest show on Earth is back on!" Cynthia smiled in the stands as she heard the two voices over the announcer. The two still had great chemistry together and it felt like only yesterday that she had heard them commentate on the last PWT. She had watched the first few matches today as her first match would not be until tomorrow (the champions and members of the regional Elite Fours had been granted direct entry to the knock out stages rather than having to qualify).

"Fancy meeting you here?" She turned as she heard a cocky voice.

"So you qualified then?" she asked the man with spiky brown hair and electric blue eyes.

"Course I did. Topped my group and only had one of my Pokémon knocked out." He said with a lot pride and swagger. Cynthia shook her head and chucked.

"You didn't answer my question." He continued.

"Same reason you're here Blue."

"Hmph. I gotta admit that qualifier looked good." Cynthia smiled to herself, if only Blue knew.

"That last match was an absolute slobberknoccker!" They heard RJ's voice over the announcer.

"Right you are and this should be a treat as well!"

"It involves one of the favourites. And here he comes! Drake of the Hoen Elite Four!" Drake walked out to Metallica's The Memory Remains. He was a measure of focus and calm; he seemed oblivious to screams and shouts that accompanied his entrance.

"Now our next competitor is a relative newcomer. He came through the qualifiers but apart from that we literally have no more information for you ladies and gentlemen."

"It is very strange RJ. Some say that he's goes by the name of Shadow while others say it's Ghost, all we know is that he's going up one of the greats. And I don't fancy his chances!"

"There is no doubt about it. We are expecting Drake with her years of experience to make it through today and all the way up to the quarters and maybe further." A massive roar was heard followed by a stream of flame behind the stadium. Suddenly the lights went out leaving the place in pitch black.

"What the Fuck?" Cynthia heard Blue say beside her. The crowd murmured in confusion, not sure what was happening.

"We do apologise ladies and gentlemen, we appear to be having some technical difficulties." RJ said over the announcer. Cynthia looked on with mild amusement; she didn't think he would do something so dramatic.

'_We had to do something special.'_ She heard a familiar voice in her head.

Quite orchestral music started to play**[1]** adding an eerie feel to the atmosphere. No one but Cynthia now had any clue what was going on. Until a tune was heard. Most of the audience didn't recognise it but a few members did.

"No way!" Blue gasped beside her.

"It…It can't be!" RJ stuttered. Suddenly red lights turned on, revealing a man with a prosthetic leg and black cloak adorned around him. The man bowed his head and took of the cloak revealing a tattered red jacket. In his right hand was a cap; as old and as tattered as the jacket. As the music ended he put the cap on and raised his head. There was a dead silence as the crowd could not believe their eyes.

"It's Red! It's Red! It's Red!" RJ screamed over the announcer causing the crowd to go into frenzy.

Through the madness that ensued Red looked up searching for something. Cynthia waved and the deep brown eyes with a tint of red locked on. They gazed into each other, connected, despite what was going on around them. Red then titled his head and half smiled at Cynthia, re-positioning his cap, grabbed a Pokéball and turned his attention to the battle at hand.

* * *

**[1]**Listen too DJFishHead- Trainer Red Epic Orchestral Remix (PM me if you want the link)

**AN: So there we are, the end of the road. Hope you guys enjoyed it, I loved writing it! I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to reading my story, especially those who took the time to review it. Your comments were much appreciated and encouraged me to keep on writing this and helped me to become a better writer. A big shout out to my regular reviewers, you guys know who you are and I'd just like to say that you're the best.**

**And for the final time, I ask you to rate and review.**

**Cheers!**

**92fd**


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